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Hi Im a massive fan but I have to ask you please dont go ahead with this gig! You probably are unaware but Palestinians have called for a boycott of apartheid Israel similar to the boycott of apartheid south africa. They have 3 demands;

an end to the occupation

the refugees right of return to be implemented

Palestinians in Israel to have equal rights as Jews.

By ignoring the call for boycott you are prolonging the injustice against the Palestinian people, please dont do it!

well joe. i’m a big fan as well as you
and i realy would like to see Mr. scott
performing here in Israel.
btw. if there is any chance for pease (unfurtunly i’m using the word IF) so, art, music and education will be the guidence for that and not boycotting any kind of issue.
lots of love toyou Mr. scott
cant wait for your arrival.

I have been a fan of your for many years, and am surprised that someone who has always stood so strongly for justice for the oppressed and downtrodden would agree to appear in Israel. Please reconsider. To paraphrase what you sang in “The Vulture”, you will be standing in the ruins of another [Palestinians]life.

I got to see you perform at Essence Fest ’08, and still get shivers when I recall that performance. You are such a treasure for all people, but especially those who know oppression. And before sharing your voice with an audience in Tel Aviv, I hope you will think about the many Palestinians left voiceless by Apartheid and occupation. Please stand up to Israeli Apartheid, just as you stood up to Apartheid South Africa. Please lend your voice to the revolution yet again, which will not be Tel Aviv-ized!!

I’m a big fan of your music. As a Jewish Israeli citizen, I am asking you:
Please heed the PACBI call. No “business as usual” as long as apartheid, oppression and dispossession go on here, with the support of most Western governments.

Your music and poetry has inspired me in ways that I can not explain. You’re voice has been a beacon of light in a world of oppression and struggle for years. It is for this reason that I respectfully ask you to reconsider your trip and performance in tel aviv. You have been an outspoken advocate against apartheid in south Africa. You have seen the horrors of oppression here in the united states purpertrated against us. It is only right to acknowledge the atttrociities committed against our brothers and sisters in palestine by the state of Israel. I have had a chance to see them first hand in Gaza. The reality on the ground is vastly different than what is reported in the media for as we all know the revolution will not be televised nor can it be tel-avived.

Like all the others who have sent you messages on this thread, I love your music and poetry. Your words have been an inspiration to innumerable people. Like most of those who have responded thus far to this scheduled trip to Tel Aviv, I will voice my concern about the message this concert will send to the Palestinian people, not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but the entire diaspora. The 6 million refugees who are watching the rest of the world are wondering how long it will take for us to stand up for them against the forces that have left them voiceless for over 6 decades. Please cancel your concert in Tel Aviv. As someone with a long history of struggle against racism and colonialism, your voice on this issue is a very important one. It is true that no matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn around—but that is not an excuse to keep your back to the oppressed until the time for solidarity is more convenient. Please turn around now, face your Brothers and Sisters, and let your actions speak at beautifully as your words.

Gil,I thought long and hard about whether it was appropriate for me to ask you to reconsider your gig in Tel Aviv. I will set aside your iconic status and plea with you as one human being to another. A majority of Israelis supported last years ‘War’ on Gaza in which scores of hundreds of innocent men,women and children were vaporised in their homes. Many Israelis openly consider Palestinians as vermin to be eradicated. Many of these Israelis will attend your gig wearing peace slogans and singing along to your grooves while praising you for giving the world the impression that Israel is a normal functioning democracy. Don’t be a dupe for their benefit. Salaam, Shalom and Peace brother. Eoghan

As a longtime defender of the oppressed, your complicity in Israel’s brutal occupation and apartheid of Palestine is going against what you have stood for. Stand by your Brothers and Sisters who for over 6 decades have faced this harsh injustice that affects every aspect of life- respect the call to boycott apartheid Israel and cancel your concert in Tel Aviv.

Tell me, Brother Gil, have you heard from Johannesburg? Please, respect the Palestinian call for boycott of the Apartheid Israeli regime. Respect your own legacy as a voice of resistance to racism and oppression everywhere. As you would not play Sun City, do not play Tel Aviv!

I urge you to reconsider performing in Israel, and was frankly kind of shocked seeing that you have a scheduled performance in Tel Aviv… I can’t see how that is compatible with any of your strong lyrics against oppression. South Africa got rid of their apartheid, because people like you took a stand against it and refused to deal with the oppressive regime.

But apartheid still exists in Palestine, the occupation is over 40 years old, and if anyone had a hope that Israels political class would change on their own, the latest massacre in Gaza must have put a short stop to those thoughts. We all know the stories of the schools, power plants, hospitals that got bombed, and the civilians and children who were murdered.

By performing in Tel Aviv, you legitimize Israel’s violence against Palestinians. I hope you reconsider and instead join the BDS movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until their oppression is forced to a halt.

I am a huge fan Gil and I am deeply shocked that you would play in Tel Aviv.
You must know that should this gig go ahead you can expect the rest of your tour to be marred and ruined by the obvious protests by those of us who feel strongly about wanting freedom for Palestine. Please re-consider…Israel is a fascist state – dont play there. !!!

Brother GIl, please remember that the state of Israel stands against everything you sing/talk about. In the words of Johannesbourg ‘i’m glad to see resistance growing’ – lets keep up that resistance and put an end this fascist apartheid state. Please do not play there!! Thank you

Please don’t play apartheid Israel. The only people in Israel who live the call of your music will have to boycott your performance. Don’t play white city as you did not play sun city. Please stand against apartheid!

Your agreeing to play a gig in the last of the colonial settler states is already a disgrace which has hurt the Palestine solidarity movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the racist war criminals of the State of Israel. But it’s not too late to call it off and you should call it off as soon and as publicly as possible.

Half an hour’s drive from the almost Arabrein city of Tel Aviv, is Gaza. Gaza has a population of 1.5 m people, 1 m of whom actually come from Israel but are barred from their natural hinterland and barely exist behind a blockade.

Only 15 or 16 months ago Israel was raining white phosphorous and other incendiary and explosive materials on the civilian people and infrastructure of Gaza while the people there were trapped. According to polls, the assault on Gaza had the support of over 90% of Israel’s Jewish population. This is the fruit of Israel being treated like a normal state when, as a state for people from abroad, based on the ethnic cleansing of the natives, it is anything but normal.

Just recently, Israel tightened up legislation to make the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank easier than it already was and many Palestinians live in exile from both Israel and the lands it seized in 1967.

It’s hard to believe that someone of your political outlook is ignorant of what it is that makes the racist colony of Israel stand out among serial human rights abusers but hopefully I have set out some good reasons for you to change course back to the one you are most noted for.

You are one of many activists who used their art to push the struggle for African Americans equality and liberation here in the US and abroad in countries like South Africa during the Apartheid rule. I am a fan of your music and its role in those liberation struggles. Becuase of the role your art plays in the fight for equality, I would also like to urge you to not perform in Tel Aviv. The people of Palestine like the people of South Africa are terrorized by the apartheid state of Israel. Both Mendela and Rev. Arch Bishop Desmound Tutu have publically assertted this fact.

Since 1948, when jewish zionist were given a huge part of Palestinian land by the Brittish Empire (which was not their’s to give either), the western European zionists have forcibly removed and/or massacred Palestinians in order to create a “Jewish Only” state. In so doing, they have built massive iron walls around most of the West Bank to secure water wholes and olive groves that were never theirs to begin with. To name one of the atrocities that the zionist state, an apartheid state, continue to do to the people of Palestinians. That is why Rev Tutu openly states that Israel is an apartheid state and supports the boycott/divestment strategy in defunding an apartheid state. Here is a link to a letter Rev Tutu wrote in approval of divestment: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april112010/desmond-tutu-dt.php.

Don’t go to Tel Aviv and support a racist apartheid state. Use your art to stand up against the racism of the state of Israel and the atrocities it committs on the Palestinians people in the name of judaism. Because like African Americans in the US Palestinians have a right to live as equals in their own land. They have a right to return to their farms and homes that they were driven out of in 1948, 1967 and with the many home demolitions that continue to this day. Support the Palestinian liberation struggle!

For more information, you can go to pslweb.org, on the page you will find a radio broadcast by Mumia Abu Jamal advocating for the Palestinian liberation struggle.

Please don’t normalize Israel’s actions by playing there. In doing so you would undermine the important work of the BDS campaign and stand on the wrong side of history. We must continue to stand against apartheid!

I grew up listening to your music, I was born in exile in the UK but I am South African. I recall the support you gave us during our struggle – thank you. I think you should be doing the same for our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are denied the most basic human rights,ON THEIRANCESTRALLAND. Please boycott apartheid Israel.

Dear Gil, I am shocked to hear that you are breaking the anti-apartheid boycott by performing in Israel. You have always been a supporter of human rights and a voice for the oppressed—how can you lend your credibility to Israel as it engages in mass violations of human rights, particularly only one year after the massacre of over 1000 Palestinians in Gaza last year that many have compared to the apartheid regime’s Sharpeville massacre? What message will you send to the Palestinian political prisoners and those living under occupation behind the apartheid wall when they see that you have come to entertain their oppressors? Just think about what message you would have sent to the ANC by performing for a crowd of white South Africans during apartheid’s reign. If you have any integrity left, you will cancel this performance and declare your solidarity with the Palestinian victims of Israeli apartheid, not the oppressors, as you did during the apartheid struggle. I would encourage you to learn about the apartheid situation in Palestine and think about your responsibility as a respected artist and advocate for social justice.

You are playing music while the Israeli Zionists are butchering women and children and stealing yet more land and still NOT abiding by ANY U.N resolutions in its history
same as apartheid in south Africa
in fact worse than the racist regime from south AfricaDONTPLAYFORCHILDKILLERS !!!!!

Please do not play your concert in Israel. You are a long-term progressive whose work I have always admired. A boycott is a means to put non-violent pressure on the Israeli government to treat Palestinians consistently with human rights and to put pressure for a just peace in the middle east. As human beings, we have a responsibility to ensure the human rights of all. Your boycott will carry a lot of weight and put pressure on others.

I admit that I am not a follower of your music but I was born in South Africa and am a Jew. I lived through apartheid, left the country and worked towards a free South Africa. I admired all the artists who chose not to go to that country and to show solidarity with those under the yoke of apartheid. You stood out. Today I as a Jew recognise that what Israel is doing is exactly the same as what South Africa was doing in the heyday of apartheid. Just one small example. Even in South Africa they did not have separate roads for Black people, in the occupied territories they have separate roads for the indigenous Palestinians and roads for Jewish settlers.
If you really care for people, if you are against all racism, if you value your integrity more than either money or power, then I urge you to listen to the pleas of those under the yoke of a barbaric occupation and refuse to play Tel Aviv until the occupation ends and Israel’s army of occupation returns to the barracks.
Thank you
Zelig

Someone told me that it must be the case that you are simply unaware of what is going on in Palestine/Israel… how it would be nice to believe that… however, it’s hard to believe when you know that you headlined a show for a palestinian solidarity organisation a few years ago… have you forgotten? have you been provided with a huge financial incentive? by playing in israel you will render all that you have done in the past meaningless and emply… you will be a fraud… it’s not too late though… DO THERIGHTTHING… PLEASE

By performing in Israel you are validating the apartheid state, one that has systematically oppressed the Palestinian people for decades and is responsible for war crimes. Israel is my generations’ South Africa. Please, do as you did in the ’80s, support the boycott and support the Palestinain people.

Well done to all the protesters who were brave enough to face down the wrath of the crowd and to throw leaflets through the air and shout in between songs, it clearly had an effect on Gil throughout the show and I don’t think he would have announced the cancellation of the Tel-Aviv show without this very direct pressure being applied.

I think he was embarrassed and ashamed, as he didn’t engage with the protesters in any way at the start of the show; he wanted to shrug them off, when he had a perfect opportunity to engage with them, as all he was doing at that point was telling some bad jokes and chatting. Then, almost at the end of the show, he said that the Tel-Aviv booking wouldn’t go ahead, but he mumbled something about scheduling and dates and people not being able to read. He got a standing ovation anyway, and a lot of tension was released. It was clear then that a lot of people had been at the show and felt very conflicted. Personally, I couldn’t enjoy it at all. Listening to him singing ‘Work For Peace’ and singing about how ‘everyone is talking about peace but no one wants to work for it’ was very difficult to stomach as I imagined him performing the same show in Israel.
Glad he didn’t sell out, he should’ve confronted this issue head on though and not mutter something about ‘scheduling’ to get him off the hook.

I had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right, well it is right now. This has, ironically, gained more attention to the situation in Palestine than had Gil just simply chosen not to play Tel Aviv in the first place. So this is not a victory, but a potential damaging situation rectified. I was not lookong forward to living with a big negative connected to the mighty GSH. I commend the support of all you Israelis who choose to support the cause of Palestine, it must be a lot harder for you than most. To all who agitated to change Gil’s (or his management’s) mind on the Tel Aviv gig… Respect X

It’s good that you have canceled your show in occupied Palestine. The next step is to think about why you considered it in the first place.

We write to you from the southern suburbs of Beirut – one of the heartlands of resistance to the Zionist military machine that tries to destroy us and Lebanon every few years.

We are rappers and independent artists who are mostly from the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon. We proudly state this even though we know we are modern history’s most permanent refugees. Our parents and grandparents were forced of their villages and into exile. Palestine lives right in front of our eyes, runs through our blood and helps our hearts continue to beat when they attack. We will return

We talk about you as the elder of hip hop and make sure that new young recruits to hip hop listen to your work and sober up… to forget the hype and get into the core of it. You can image what it felt like when we heard you plan to play on the ruins of our villages and inside our dispossession.

One needs to hold onto principles. Personal honor and ethics are necessary. That’s in fact how we survive colonialism, chemical warfare, carpet bombing, precision bombing, constant surveillance, siege, total occupation and the attempt to erase us as a people.

The enemy is the enemy and from him you get what you expect. But the betrayal of a brother, a teacher, an elder is like the slash of a knife…

Please Cancel you Tel Aviv Show.
Stand up for the TRUTH and for JUSTICE.
Do not play in a city built on top of destroyed villages and on stolen land while the original inhabitants live trapped inside Gaza miles away unable to not only attend your concert, but live freely in their own country!

I do live in that place called Tel Aviv. and i do know that so many people in tel aviv, your fans included, are waiting to listen to you, be inspired by your words, music and vibe. They need inspiration for a revolution

4 months ago Saul Williams spoke in Tel Aviv. He shocked and shaken hundreds of people who are willing to wake up, stand up and make a change, but if they wont have people like you to encourage them – it will never happen.

I feel that you HAVE to come to tel aviv! just even to remind people that there is another way…
while you come i really hope you’ll visit Bilin, Gaza and Hebron. talk to people who live here and feel here.tell them your truth. you can make a change, or even just plant the seeds…

congratulations, for taking the first step to cancel your tel aviv gig, mr. gil scott heron. me and loads of my palestinian friends and global bds activists (these activists even exist in israel!) alike are send you lot’s of encouragement, so that you may follow through with your announcement in london and publicly re-confirm that you will not play in tel aviv. we encourage you to not forget your bold actions with regards to apartheid south africa. we encourage you not to validate notions that progressive and non-progressive israeli’s need a reminder of the crimes their government and military commit on a daily basis. if they need reminding to change their community, all they need do is open their eyes and look next door and at the the world around them. encourage progressive israeli’s to change their communities, by making public your reasons for supporting the palestinian voice.

Gil Scott-Heron, great anti-Apartheid artist, is patronizing Tel Aviv? You are making a mockery of everything, everything you have stood for, and you are betraying all those who supported you and admired you all these years. Gil, you cannot claim ignorance of what you are doing! Don’t add to the suffering of the Palestinians — CANCELTHEGIG IN ISRAEL.

if you really have done the right thing and càncelled this gig why is it still being advertised on your website 24 hours after your announcement at the rfh. its your website, its your responsibility.

It was a fantastic performance at the RFH last night but you know that the protesters last night did so in a righteous cause. When Emery Douglas called for you to re-think did you see the light during your interlude after being badly advised earlier? What you said last night was wrong. It simply wasn’t right to call those protesting fans assholes. Your lyrics still mean something to so many of us but much of your audience shared the protesters views and many were ready to walk out after your crass and ineloquent asshole comments. the fancy dressed z list celebrity pissheads talking and walking in and out all through your act at the front, just wanting to be seen at the best gig in town, some of them shouting “fuck palestine” were a true disgrace that you simply helped to encourage. You owe your real fans an apology, not the protesters!

Celebrate, Celebrate?

Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tell it like it really is
Wake up to this wake up call
and what goes on behind that wall

Dear Gil,
You are american. America is doing war crimes in Iraq and afgahninstan. You are performing in Germany. Germany killed 6 millions jews. how can you cancel your show in Tel Aviv and still perform in the US, England and Germany?

By NOT playing Tel Aviv Gil would show his support to the Israelis who genuinely oppose the Israeli crimes. Indeed, Israeli activists support the boycott – see BOYCOTT!
I’m an Israeli and appalled to hear the apologists for the Israeli war crimes, Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and siege.
Calls to break the boycott are calls to encourage Israelis to continue with their complicity with the crimes against the Palestinians.

Gil I sincerely believe you should do as your self professed fan and comrade and fellow poet Saul Williams has down – come, perform, engage in dialogue, share the complexity of the situation, visit the occupied territories. Make a stand there. Stand near the apartheid wall and read “the revolution will not be televised”. Come and meet the people of Bil’in…

As Greg Dulli said when playing here: we’re coming to play for the people, not their government’s policy.

Please make the distinction. There are israeli fans of you here, waiting to hear what you have to say. Some of them agree with the government, some don’t.

As for me, I don’t agree with everything my government is doing, as I am sure you don’t agree with yours.

I think the word “Apartheid” is being thrown in to this discussion much to easily and with no real thought as to what it means. There is no Apartheid in Israel. Yes, there is no real equality and the situation is very complicated in too many ways. But it is not one-sided, it is not binary, it is not Evil VS Good. There is evil and good on both sides.

Gil dear, I second every word Guy (comment #65) said.
When the news of your gig where published, I thought of surprising my love with a ticket, because he is a big fan of yours. He also happens to be a part of http://israleft.org/ – the only English-speaking Israeli blog that works to bring out the sad, ugly and uneasy political & social stories that take place in this country.
Not coming to perform here tells those who encouraged you to do so on behalf of boycotting that the VOICE of Israleft, of Israeli & Palestinian activists, of peace believers and dreamers SHOULDNOT BE HEARD.
And what sound does that leave us with? The shouts of the extremist, the cries of the warmongers, the “no partner for peace” slogans, the laughter of the right-winged who are content with war and take pleasure in every proof for that they could get their hands on.
On behalf of those striving for peace and cooperation between two miserable people who suffer incompetent leadership, I ask you not to hand such proof to the hands of the disbelievers.
Gil – You are a master of music. You of all people should know that sounds must not be hushed.

Gil, there were many whites who fought Apartheid, but that didn’t stop you supporting the boycott. The difference is that there are much fewer Israelis who genuinely oppose the Israeli Apartheid.
Gil, don’t be fooled by claims of “perform, engage in dialogue”.
We’ll welcome you to engage in conversation about the Israeli Apartheid, but not by breaking the boycott.
Your true fans appreciated your call to boycott Sun City and now we hope you’ll boycott Tel Aviv.
Please listen to the plight of the Palestinians, NOT to the apologists for racism, Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and siege.
I am an Israeli and like many of your other fans would be mortified if you allow the Israeli apologists to mislead you with calls to “share the complexity of the situation” [another typical Israeli propaganda] as an excuse to break the boycott.
Israelis rarely see it contradictory to consider themselves “peaceniks” and support the slaughter of Palestinians. For example, self-proclaimed “peacenik” Israeli singer, Achinoam Noa Nini, wrote while Israel was slaughtering Gaza a year ago:
“I can only wish for you that Israel will do the job we all know needs to be done, and finally RIDYOU of this cancer, this virus, this monster called fantacism, today, called Hamas.”
“Now I see the ugly head of fanaticism, I see it large and horrid, I see it’s black eyes and spine-chilling smile, I see blood on its hands and I know one of its many names: Hamas”
“You know this too, my brothers. You know this ugly monster. You know it is raping your women and raping the minds of your children. You know it is educating to hatred and death. You know it is chauvinistic and violent, greedy and selfish, it feeds on your blood and screams out Allah’s name on vain, it hides like a thief, uses the innocent as human shields, uses your mosques as arsenals, lies and cheats, uses YOU, tortures you, holds you hostage!!”
See Achinoam Nini Blog

Dear Yael (comment #67), and the rest of the pro-boycott commentators – if what you’re saying is true, then “much fewer Israelis who genuinely oppose the Israeli Apartheid” have no reason to exist.
What reason do we have to act upon our beliefs and fight the hatred and bigotry and disbelievers and human rights violators – if in the end, we are all labeled just the same?
Have the Israelis and Jews protesting in Bil’in, Na’alin and Sheikh Jarakh taught you nothing? Have the thousands of people who joined Facebook groups such as “Israelis say NO to the attack on Gaza” and “Jews and Arabs Refuse to Be Enemies” mean nothing to you? The beautiful, brave kids refusing to serve in IDF and suffering torching hatred over their stance against occupation? We are few, I’m so terribly sorry for being aware of that, but instead of encouraging our growth you want to make us extinct.
You think a boycott is the only way left to mend Israel’s ways? That the hard work from the inside activists has no future to it? All our efforts in vain? If what you’re saying is true, then it means there is no hope for the end of occupation. Because ending the occupation could only come once Israelis figure out how wrong it is, just as a stubborn kid won’t be softened by the whips of the father. By fighting those among the Israelis who have already opened their eyes and attempting to make a change, you set the rightist’s fire on that hope. Well, at least Netanyahu and Liberman will be proud of you – leftists who joyfully help Israel remain the racist, criminal state it is.

don’t let your management and lawyers twist your arm gil scott. don’t do it! don’t forget south africa, don’t forget the people (the people who live in war daily), don’t forget them just because you can. live up to the words you spoke in london, royal albert hall, about not playing in israel until everyone is welcome there. delete this tour date from your list, and close the box office on tel aviv. live up to the words you spoke so publicly last night when all eyes were on you. boycott israel, cancel tel aviv.

Dear Gil,
Please reconsider your choice NOT to perform in Tel Aviv. A man like you should know that collective punishments are no good.
It’s a cheap demagoguery to say that by performing in Tel-Aviv you’ll support and legitize Israel’s policy.
It wont function as a protesting act against Israel goverement, whom never heared your name I can assure you. You’ll only hurt your true fans in Israel like me who teared with excitement when they heared that you’ll come here.
Once again – you’re not punishing Israel by not coming to Tel Aviv, you’re only punishing the simple people who just want to listen to your music.
You’re not being novel or remaining true to yourself, you’re being a hypocrite.
I am a human being, Joe or Sarah here are human beings. we both have shitty goverements.
by performing to them and not to me you being immoral. once again and for the last time – You’re NOT acting against GOVERMENT, you’re acting against PEOPLE. acting against me.

not to mention the political and reality distortion that going around the comments here. what a poor way to see the world; white, the good guys, the Palestinians, and black, the bad guys, the Israelis.
the middle east conflict is very complex. there is no one side that is right and one side that is wrong. you’re a musician, not a politician. performing in Tel Aviv have no political meaning, only musical. anyone who says otherwise doesn’t care for music. spread music and love, not boycots and hatred.

Dear LiBERTiNE(comment #68),
now that we agree that “We are few” [Israelis who oppose the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians] and our efforts should not be dismissed, the question is whether it is right for us to demand that the Palestinian’s call for boycott should be broken for our sake??
You ask whether I “think a boycott is the only way left to mend Israel’s ways?”
Of course it isn’t the only, but it is necessary. Isn’t it obvious that with Israel’s military power, when Palestinians are being ethnic cleansed, boycott is the least we can do?
You ask whether “the hard work from the inside activists has no future to it?” Of course it has a future, in fact an important one, but does it need to be on condition the boycott is broken?
You ask whether “All our efforts in vain?” I truly hope it isn’t, but why should that require breaking the boycott?
Your questions seem to assert that the Israeli activists are against boycott, which is untrue. Clearly you are against boycott, but that isn’t the position of many of the Israeli activist groups and individuals.
Do you understand the irony in your accusation that I/we “want to make us extinct” because we support boycott, when Palestinians actually die because of the siege?
“The beautiful, brave kids refusing to serve in IDF and suffering torching hatred over their stance against occupation” are appreciated, but not more than the beautiful, brave Palestinian kids being maimed and tortured by Israel. It is a dreadful situation, with lives being wasted, but to take away the Palestinian right to resist it by a boycott??
The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has been carried out by both, the Israeli right and so called “left”. Israel has remained “the racist, criminal state it is” under both, the Israeli right and “left” governments, because for too long the world was appeasing Israel. While the world fails to act against Israeli war crimes, Palestinians pay for it with their lives.
Now that anti-Apartheid and anti-racist Gil Scott-Heron announced he cancelled his Tel Aviv gig you concentrate your efforts to blackmail him to break the boycott – do you really care for the hungry children in Gaza?

LIBERTINE is full of shit. The war on Lebanon in 2006 – 33 days of raining terror on civilians – was “the first war by Peace Now” according to the Israeli paper Yediot Ahranot. Israelis who don’t support the boycott support the colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing and racist laws that define Israel. Some want the colonial settler system confined to 78% of what was Palestine. They also want 100% of Palestinians confined to 22% of Palestine. So the zionist left wants over three quarters of Palestine to be for the world’s Jews and the remaining less than a quarter to be reservations for the “aboriginal” population, ie the Palestinians.

The idea that Israel will come to its senses or make nice because people pander to it with visits is ludicrous. No one panders to the racist war criminals of the State of Israel more than the USA and Obama couldn’t even get Israel to refrain from the public ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Jerusalem and the announcement of more construction for Jews only. Obama even allowed Israel to build there some time ago but Israel had to publicly flex its colonial settler muscles much to the embarrassment of VP Biden. Where did appeasement get the USA in its dealings with Israel? You think Gil Scott Heron would do better?

Israel isn’t improving with age, it’s getting worse. I don’t know whether Gil Scott Heron was chasing money or if he was ignorant of the fact that Israel exists on the basis of on-going colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing and racist laws. That’s without getting into the relentless aggression, the targeting of children and the blockade of Gaza and the multi-ghettoisation of the West Bank.

Perhaps all the talk of the occupied territories, Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem has confused him. Perhaps he thinks Israel is a place apart from Palestine. It is not. It is the main part of Palestine and it exists because Palestine doesn’t. By playing there, Gil Scott Heron will help this essentially racist entity continue to exist.

How this sorry saga happened needs to be explained. Was it money? Say sorry. Was it ignorance? Learn and then say sorry.

Gil Scott Heron has disgraced himself with his decision to play in Tel Aviv.

We need a clear statement from him and his management that this Tel Aviv gig is not going ahead. But it is also important that Gil Scott Heron explains how it is that he came so close to undermining the boycott of the last of the colonial settler states. Apparently he has already tried to bullshit his way through an announcement in London but many people are looking and listening. I am hoping that the ludicrous comments from Israelis and zionists in this thread will open his eyes to how wrong he has been and to see how thrilled these racist war criminals will be if he played there.

This isn’t over yet. Tickets are still on sale for the gig in Tel Aviv and the gig is still listed on this site with no announcement to suggest that it has been cancelled.

gil,
home is where the hatred is, and its here in israel. by coming here you will give some peace-loving people a chance of change, a small light to show the way to stop hatred.
any act involved telling people what to do is an act of violence, and you will accept this violence by not coming to tel aviv.
we are waiting for you here, please dont let us down.
israel has been the homeland of civilization for thousend of years, the land isnt jewish nor palestinian, its still good old mother earth.
come and see how peaople are living hear,
and expect to find open ears to your words and music. peace

Was Gil anti-apartheid back in the days because it sold or because of principle? It is slowly starting to feel like the former. Gil, you’ve disappointed me and a number of many other fans who didn’t just love your music but what you stood for.

I call on people around the world to attend your concerts only to walk out in protest. It is not a boycott of you that we are calling for, but a boycott of Israel and its policies. We’ll tell that to your face, at your concerts, wherever and whenever they are. I’m sorry if it will ruin your night. We would prefer it to be so much different. We would prefer it if we could give you a standing ovation for your art and all you stand for. I’ll pray for this day to come soon but it will only be after a final confirmation that what happened at your concert in London is indeed true, and that you are not being played by your managers.

…“Israel is an apartheid state.” Those were not the words of Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu or Joe Slovo, but were uttered by none other than the architect of apartheid itself, racist Prime Minister, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd.
He was irked by the criticism of apartheid policy and Harold Macmillan’s “Winds of Change” speech , in contrast to the West’s unconditional support for Zionist Israel.
To be sure Verwoerd was correct. Both states preached and implemented a policy based on racial ethnicity; the sole claim of Jews in Israel and whites in South Africa to exclusive citizenship; monopolized rights in law regarding the ownership of land, property, business; superior access to education, health, social, sporting and cultural amenities, pensions and municipal services at the expense of the original indigenous population; the virtual monopoly membership of military and security forces, and privileged development along their own racial supremacist lines – even both countries marriage laws designed to safeguard racial “purity”.
The so-called “non-whites” in apartheid South Africa, indigenous Africans, others of mixed race or of Indian origin – like second or third class non-Jews in Israel – were consigned to a non-citizenship status of Kafkaesque existence, subject to bureaucratic whims and the laws prohibiting their free movement, access to work and trade, dictating where they could reside and so forth.
Verwoerd would have been well aware of Israel’s dispossession of indigenous Palestinian in 1948 – the year his apartheid party similarly came to power – of the unfolding destruction of their villages, the premeditated massacres and the systematic ethnic cleansing”

Link: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14924

Sham on everyone ignores the apartheid colonial reality of the Israeli state.

all you people talking about human rights- have you ever been in israel?? have you ever delt with the crap israel is dealing with every day for the last 62 years?? toy are talking about human rights, does your country give you all the human rights? half of the world denies human rights and israel is an easy target, have you ever asked yourself why?? if you support human rights you shouldnt deny the israelis their rights. hypocrites!!!!

ralph: you think 62 years is a long time? and what crap would that be? israel makes itself an easy target by welcoming USA military funding, bulldozing homes, paying no attention to international law, illegally occupying an entire people, murdering 1.5 million (and counting) people imprisoned and persecuted by your racist state. people who are guilty of that do not deserve to be called human, let alone deserve to have any kind of rights to anything. not even fancy names like gil scott. what crap exactly does israel deal with? do yourself a favor buddy, take a long hard look in the mirror and history, recognize the denial and lie you and your people have been living and breathing and “dealing with” for 62 years, cry and mourn over yourselves for another 62 years (and counting) and see if we’ll allow you to be re-integrated back into the species you claim to be a part of.

Real intellectual artist should be aware of the nature of the apartheid state of Israel. there is no need for the public to open the eyes of the artist! they are the ones usually lead to expose the rotten system of any racist society.

Mr Heron go head and entertain this apartheid state, with your announcement you insulted all the victims of this racist state and their supportes. With you or without you this colonial settler project will be exposed as the real grassroots movement did before to the old South African regime. We don’t need artists without conscious.

“But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” – Nelson Mandela

All the leftist here speak so highly and nicely. it’s all very nice but you do ignore and distort one major fact – Israel is not apartheid. Israel have murdered 1.5 million? hmm… what the *? Israel is not murdering kids. last year there has been a war at Gaza, in war innocent people are dying because of mistakes. ask NATO and the military activity in Afghanistan. once again you presenting it as white and black, good against evil, which is a twisted image of the reality. Palestinians are terrorizing Israel and there is no excuse for terror, not taken land and not occupation.
according to the twisted mind of some people here, by not performing in Tel Aviv you will support and legitimize the Palestinian terror and their (Hammas for example) inner violation of human rights

Maybe the spirit of abi natan and the voice of peace radio must be re-instated. You could help with that, you are quite influential Mr Scott-Heron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abie_Nathan

(please refer to the link above)

Reading all the comments from both “sides” i will only say that i strongly feel that we shouldnt all pursue the unattainable only the realistic and the helpful, to each other.
I only hope that we all one day break bread together instead of breaking bones.
Until then peace-salaam-shalom.

Yes, beyond the endless idelogical arguments thrust upon us here by various protesters about colonial this and ethhnic cleansing that, there is a way that is insightful and that doesnt monopolise on morality, reason or intelligence. That way is not wholly the way of the protesters, as they would have you belive.

Its just that all this inflammatory language that has been commandeered to destroy any hopes of peace by the objectors is racist and incorrect.

Firstly; the PLO are not the ANC.

Secondly; Apartheid in South Africa was a system based on racial ideas of superiority put in place by white colonists. BUT Half of Israelis are at least middle eastern in their genetic origins, there are some african jews too as well as the white europeans jews that are always been emphasised. Because to talk of “the whitey” gives weight to the struggle of resistance, but the non-white jews are always ignored in this debate. The wall was promarlioy built to prevent the waves of sucide bombers that used to day trip over into Israel on a daily basis. That has completely stopped now. Harsh but true. No babies and mothers getting blown up in pizza restaurants. No teenage kids in night clubs, working folk on buses. Put it in context people.

Thirdly; Arafat was offered a settling peace deal with Israel and refused because he wanted glory and the big prize. He refused it at Sharm el Sheikh.
Since then: Clinton got impreached for a blowjob and Bush got in and Barak was voted out due to being seen as unable to bring peace. Who says that these peoples politics arent interdependent and co-dependent??
and, where are Yassers billions now; the PLO national treasury is in the hands of his ex-wife and not in the hands of the people. Since he refused back in 2000, clinton went, Barak went, arafat died, theres been an intifada. Sharon got voted in built a wall, Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas got it. There have been 2 intersate wars etc. Hardly been a good build on the 1994 olso accords is it?

Please refer to the lyrics for Work for Peace “if everyone who wanted peace, who says they wanted, we would have it”

fourthly: to talk of zionism and judaism as seperate, they are not. Zionism is Judaism. Even the nuturei karta should they think the messiah has arrived, they too will be zionist. Its a detail. And then to talk of “Muslim lands” and deny Jewish or christian residence in these lands, its hypocritical. To say that over a whole region one people should be in religious and cultural dominance over all others, but in one small land another should not be allowed. That sounds like cultural imperialism to me. The stuff of monoculture.

fifthly; Kurds, Armenians are just 2 examples of losers in the post WW nation state building of the middle east. I dont exactly see the protesters lobbying, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran over these issues. The thing is, the middle eastern regimes eport their internal contradictions on to the israel issue and use it as a pretext to suppress and slaughter and remain in a martial society.

sixthly, and beleive me, i can go on, such enmity as is constaly eschewed from Israel’s neighbours and objectors just adds to the rejection and reactionary reflex. If you are constantly telling everyone how much a people should be hated and driven away; i ask you: what do you expect them to do?

Look, please refer to the lyrics for “Gun”. Feeling scraed is a basic human instinct. After all, thats why we have armies, right??

So, dont boycott israel. Play Israel. Have this “conversation with both Israelis and Palestinians” Add a jerusalem show to the tour as well.

I would like to add my thanks and praise to all those who applaud you for cancelling your gig in Tel Aviv, Apartheid Israel.

I am sure you have made this decision because you understand that when we talk about peace, we must always talk about justice in the same breath.

There is no justice for the Palestinians of Gaza, the West Bank, those who live inside the borders of the Israel state, or those exiled around the world.

Your decision was so important because we know that Israel is bolstered by the US and other western powers, both economically and politically, and that responsibility therefore lies with us, civil society, to act against this injustice. The same was true in South Africa – I remember those days when the US and British governments were supporting the racist apartheid state of South Africa (they would never admit it now), and South Africans had to resist against the odds, and internationals around the world had to find our way to support their resistance. Artists Against Apartheid were one part of that international solidarity.

We now face the same situation in Palestine, and we have to act. Thankyou for setting an example to other musicians around the world in making a brave and wise decision.

your comments simply do not implicate either the pan arabist history, the facist ba’athism or the complicty of racist organisations in their enmity towards Israel.
The palestinians lose, the israelis lose.

dear selina,
you asked what crap- suicide bombers are good enough? people who suicude in order to murder kids have no respect for human rights and the western civilization. but they do want other people to respect their human rights.
i am not israeli and i am not even jewish. i am french and i currently live in london. i see and hear many people talking about the “Apartheid” in israel. are you kidding me? where else arabs have freedom of speech?? not in egypt, syria, lebanon, tunisia and jordan. i have been there. have you been there and try to talk against the government selina? do you know why the israelis and palestinians fight? the palestinians themselvs deprive the human rights of the people of gaza.
i have been in israel 3 years ago. i spent 6 months over there. i was on my way from jordan to egypt and i got stuck over there. i didnt believe my own eyes, is this what apartheid looks like? i was ignorant, just like you. all the knowledge i had was from the evening news. let me tell you something selina- dont believe the news, at least not all the time.
and for all of you hypocrites- the usa, france, uk, germany and spain- all of these countries deprive human rights. so dear gil i think the moon is available.

Dear Mr. Scott-Heron:
I was a member of the occupation forces of
India in the post-war 1940s. My armed service
days opened my mind and eyes to the evil
embedded in the practical application of
occupation, exploitation, and forceful subjection of any ‘peoples’ regardless of
ethnicity, religion or culture.
So my friend. Continue your boycott of Israel. Do NOT give our Jewish friends any leverage to
justify their continued occupation, exploitation and forceful subjection of the
Palestinian/Arab peoples.
Time is running out as Ehud Barak the Israeli
Defence Minister made very clear the other
day. So this is not the time for anyone person
or nation to weaken or relent in the just
cause for Justice and Freedom.

I find it hard to believe that a colonial policeman from the time of the Raj would even be aware of Gil SCott Heron, and at the risk of sounding age-ist, they wouldve been leaving India at the time that Gils SCott Heron was born.

I simply think that apart from a couple of young activists, the majority of the “examples offered” of various testamonies here, are simply a replication by a few individuals to make the few appear as the many.

Judging by testimonies of the performance at the Royal Festival Hall, neither the other conert goers or Gil himself appreciated this hijacking of the performance.

I see no problem with him playing Tel Aviv and i dont see what playing tel aviv has to do with south africa, the raj or any other mercurial links.

dear freinds,
a short quize for all of you:
1.which president has threaten to erase another country off the map??
-the president of iran threaten to wipe israel off the globe
2. in which part of the world hip hop dance is considered “not moral”?
-the gaza strip. 2 days ago the palesitnian government stopped a hip hop show because it is “not moral”
3. in which country all citizens have freedom of speech, the right to vote and totally equal rights?
-israel. yes, include all ARAB citizens
4. in which country the citizens DO NOT have freedom of speech, the right to vote and totally equal rights? – ALL arab countries.
5. which countries say israel does not concider the palestinians human rights?china, syria, lybia, egypt, etc. read this list again. yes, CHINA. lybia remember lockerbie???????
before all of you guys say israel occupie arab territory, or israel is apartheid state you should learn some facts. go raed some books, not newspapers or arab essays. there are 2 sides to every story. you know only one.IGNORANCE IS NOT A BLISS

The good news is that Gil Scott-Heron, the musician who called to boycott Apartheid South Africa, now boycotts Israel.
He said on stage on 24 Apr 10 that he didn’t want to play Tel Aviv where not everyone is welcome. Only people in denial would miss the reference to the Palestinians being separated by the Israeli Apartheid, racism, roadblocks and siege.
Boycott is necessary to remind Israelis that the propaganda about being a democracy and other lies are no longer believed.
Many people are now informed of the reality of discrimination against ~1.5 million Palestinians having Israeli ID.
The slaughter of Gaza a year ago – why did you not mention it??
The boycott is to send you a message that while you don’t even bother to mention the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, we are disgusted and outraged how you deny food and medicine from 1.5 million Palestinians.
While Israelis, not just the government, are complicit and involved in causing hunger and death – do you really expected to be treated like a democracy?
Instead of preaching to others, get your facts right. Read about the “democracy”: Gaza – A manufactured catastrophe
andRights group fears sweeping deportations from West Bank
andRenewed attacks on human rights groups in Israel

yael
“discrimination against ~1.5 million Palestinians having Israeli id”. people beleive this kind of crap. the fact is they get the human rights as other israelis. roadblocks? what the hell are you talking about??? there are no road blocks in haifa, ackare, tzefat, negev, or any otherisraeli soil. that is a fact. israeli arabs have the right to vote- fact. israeli arabs has representation in the israeli parliament like any other group- fact. israeli arabs have freedom of speech- fact. israeli arabs have freedom of movement- hell, arab members of the israeli parliament went to meet kadafi in lybia. kadafi- the great human rights keeper.
there are 2 sides to every story. what country is a full democracy??? name one. israel is doing its best in this particular situation. people who want human rights should give human rights. arabs do not speak this language. look how they tore down new york, madrid, london, tel aviv- that is fact. you speak the human rights language- they dont. if gil boycot israel he should boycot europe, us, south america, africa and asia. he could go on stage in canada. or the moon.
there are 2 sides yael. you only know onw.
ignorance is not a bliss

Arabs do not have the same rights as Jews throughout the whole of Palestine including the towns and areas you name. Right now Arabs are being ethnically cleansed in the Negev. The can’t get planning permission or utilities for their villages. They are told they can’t wander, they are told they can’t settle. Negev for those that don’t know, is part of “Israel” since 1948 and there is still a campaign to Judaise it as there is in the Galilee area.

Arabs have the right to vote and there are Arab members of Israel’s Knesset but they cannot openly campaign for racial or religious equality in Palestine because judges have ruled that this would undermine the Jewishness of the state, which of course it would.

Referring to an earlier comment, no one has threatened to destroy Israel. Ahmadinejad of Iran was misquoted as having said something about Israel being “wiped from the map” but he actually said that Israel will fall from the pages of history like the Soviet Union. Even if he said that Israel should be wiped from the map that is hardly a threat given that Israel is so well protected. Israel has nuclear weapons, a genocidal ideology and a history of relentless aggression towards the natives and neighbours of what used to be Palestine. At the moment Iran has far more to fear from Israel than the other way around.

Actually I’ve only just noticed your openly racist final paragraph.

“people who want human rights should give human rights. arabs do not speak this language.”

Thanks for confirming that the anti-boycotters in this thread weren’t fans of Gil Scott Heron in the first place. But that’s not all. You are now admitting that Arabs throughout Palestine (from the river to the sea) do not have basic human rights and you seek to justify this on the grounds that there are Arab dictatorships. Well done Ron. I wish more zionists were like you.

But maybe even you can understand that there is a difference between boycotting Israel and boycotting other states. No other state exists more for people that don’t come from there than for people that do. It is true that many states have colonial settler backgrounds but Israel is the only colonial settler work in progress where people from abroad are invited to come and live there whilst people from there (to give just 1 million examples, two thirds of Gaza’s population) are banned from there. There is no other state that is predicated on that state of affairs.

Finally, there is another issue that makes Israel stand out from other serial human rights abusers and that is the sheer volume of dishonest propaganda to pass Israel off as a state with the same values of democracy, liberty and the rule of law that the west professes. Wars that Israel or the zionist movement has started have been passed off as defence or retaliation. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has been blamed on the Palestinians themselves and still Israel is presented as a victim.

This is why the boycott is so important to anti-racists. It doesn’t as yet hurt the criminal state but it does publicise what is wrong with it. It makes people look into the issues. We don’t need to do that with other human rights abusers because the media is more open about them because there is no other state whose existence is predicated on on-going human rights abuses in the way that Israel’s is.

Postings by Israeli apologists expose denial.Roadblocks
The hundreds of roadblocks that prevent Palestinians from accessing medical treatment, work, education, family visits, even accessing their own fields. This denial is not due to lack of information in the Israeli media, which has covered hundreds of instances of Palestinians suffering at the hands of Israeli soldiers at the roadblocks [have you, ron, never served in one of them?]
The Israeli media has reported of soldiers shooting to death pregnant women en route to hospital or killing them by denying them passage to hospitals.
The Israeli group Machsom [roadblock in Hebrew] Watch compiled reports about the daily routine of arbitrary brutality exercised by the Israeli soldiers.
Instead of be ashamed by the reports and trying to stop the abuse, many Israelis are now busy attacking the Israeli groups that report on the human rights abuses and Israeli war crimes [eg B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence and Machsom Watch].Israel Now and Then
The history of Israel is nothing to be proud about. WE have been involved in endless massacres of Palestinians, such as included in the following report, by another excellent Israeli group: Touring al-Ras al-Ahmar while Gaza is under attack, Saturday, 27.12.2008Why Ask Gil to Boycott Israel?
Listen to Artist United Against Apartheid Let Me See Your ID
Especially listen to Gil. Now think about ID and Rights group fears sweeping deportations from West Bank and the Israeli propaganda, portraying Israel as democracy and the victims, while Israelis refuse stop slaughtering and ethnic cleansing Palestinians. Civil society is now taking action to expose this, such as calling on Gil Scott-Heron to boycott Israel. While we are delighted Gill cancelled his Tel Aviv gig, we recognise, as would any reasonable person, that this in no way match the Israeli systematic destruction of the Palestinians. Yet, most Israelis, as on this webpage, cannot accept even this boycott. Clearly they wish the world would continue ignoring their crimes.Apartheid WITHIN Israel
As for the discrimination against the Palestinians holding Israeli ID [I’ll use the term “1948 Palestinians”, because Israel failed to force them out during the massive 1947-1949 ethnic cleansing]:
In Yaffa [annexed to Tel Aviv], most of which was ethnic cleansed in 1948 [the Palestinian refugees are scattered in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon], about 10 days ago [~17 Apr] settlers trespassed the home of a Palestinian family [one of the few to survive the ongoing ethnic cleansing] and told them they plan to evict them like the Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The surviving Palestinians are currently being ethnic cleansed from Ramlah and Lydd [Lod in Hebrew]. Their homes are being demolished. Most of the Palestinians in Ramlah and Lydd ] were forced out of their homes in 1948 with Yitzhak Rabin in command. That was part of Ben Gurion’s planned ethnic cleansing.
A few general facts of the current situation:
“1948 Palestinians” make up 20% of Israel’s population —“1948 Palestinians” control 2.5% of the land. This is the result of waves of massive land confiscation, which provoked mass protests on 30 March 1976, which met with brutal Israeli forces, murdering 6 “1948 Palestinians” that day and many more wounded [in front of me in Nazareth a young man was left heavily bleeding from head injuries in the police van, being denied any medical help]. Ever since, Land Day is a day of protest against the Israeli racist policies, such as land confiscated from “1948 Palestinians” is given to Jewish Israelis, but not the reverse.
There are 60,000 “1948 Palestinians” living in “unrecognised villages” There is no electricity, no running water, no sewage, no social services and few schools in these villages
Jews receive 80% more public funding and services than do “1948 Palestinians”.
In schools, “1948 Palestinians” students receive 1/3 the funding that Jewish students get
50% of “1948 Palestinians” families and 60% of “1948 Palestinians” kids live below the poverty line.
State-run unemployment programs exist only in Jewish towns
Recently the Knesset disqualified All Arab parties in the election [a court overturned this]
Only 6% of the civil service are “1948 Palestinians”, and only 2% are “1948 Palestinians” women.
Watch the facts of the Apartheid WITHIN Israel: the online film Targeted Citizens, made for Adalah, 2010

well well
ain’t this world a bitter place?
not only, us Israelis and palestines have to live in a state of war, of troubled society, and an uncertain future, we are being pushed away again and again.
can’t this performance be about peace, unite, about all the things that should be right and are not?
the history of this nation is as long as babylon, the politicians, from both sides i might say, can not find there arms and legs, and have no longer interest in he well being of the citizens, but of their own.

Gil Scott Heron. I pleed you to come over to Israel and share with us your music and yourself.
there are many people who take that performance as a spark of hope.
what we have here to lean on is music, and yours, does the work.
you will find so much love here, it will be hard for you to believe.
It is not us, the people who are planing the occupation and the war, and I hope we won’t have to suffer for lack of music as well.
from my heart, i ask you, join us for a guthering of peace and music.
hank you for your time
Galia GIlady

Galia GIlady,
You could have not possibly understood the great performer and his wonderful music, if when confronted with evidence of Apartheid and ethnic cleansing your response is: “ain’t this world a bitter place?”
The music you consider you’re entitled to is about “this world a bitter place” and the struggle to change it.
While Palestinians lives are blighted by the Israeli aggression, you demand your entertainment.

For too many years Israel successfully deceived the world with talks of peace while doing war. Presenting the Israelis as peaceniks, while almost all Israelis are complicit with the crimes and many are actively participating in the Israeli war machine against the people we stole their land, now deprive them of food and medicine.

You lament you’ll miss your chance to sing peace with Gil, but not a single word about the siege? You know the long list of Israeli crimes, but chose to ignore, what is the daily reality of the Palestinians.
Your posting expose you have neither interest nor knowledge of Gil’s music, but you just don’t want Gil to boycott you, because it might alert people to the Israeli Apartheid you wish to conceal.
You don’t want Gil’s wonderful voice to let people hear the plight of the Palestinians and give them comfort in their ghettos created by Israel.
The pretence of wanting peace has been a smoke screen to craving a state without the indigenous Palestinians.
I was at a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv at the beginning of the first Intifada. Dozens of thousands sang with passion “peace” songs, but when I asked for donations for baby food to Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza [which was under curfew], the peace protesters replied: let them go hungry until there is a political solution.
The political solution is evasive as ever, so they are hungrier, poorer, bombed, uranium and other metals in their body, but you go on as nothing happened to disturb your “peace” songs.

Galia GIlady,
Is it possible you understood the great performer and his wonderful music, if when confronted with evidence of Apartheid and ethnic cleansing your response is: “ain’t this world a bitter place?”
The music you consider you’re entitled to is about “this world a bitter place” and the struggle to change it.
While Palestinians lives are blighted by the Israeli aggression, you demand your entertainment.

For too many years Israel successfully deceived the world with talks of peace while doing war. Presenting the Israelis as peaceniks, while almost all Israelis are complicit with the crimes and many are actively participating in the Israeli war machine against the people we stole their land, now deprive them of food and medicine.

You lament you’ll miss your chance to sing peace with Gil, but not a single word about the siege? You know the long list of Israeli crimes, but chose to ignore, what is the daily reality of the Palestinians.
Your posting expose you have neither interest nor knowledge of Gil’s music, but you just don’t want Gil to boycott you, because it might alert people to the Israeli Apartheid you wish to conceal.
You don’t want Gil’s wonderful voice to let people hear the plight of the Palestinians and give them comfort in their ghettos created by Israel.
The pretence of wanting peace has been a smoke screen to craving a state without the indigenous Palestinians.
I was at a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv at the beginning of the first Intifada. Dozens of thousands sang with passion “peace” songs, but when I asked for donations for baby food to Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza [which was under curfew], the peace protesters replied: let them go hungry until there is a political solution.
The political solution is evasive as ever, so they are hungrier, poorer, bombed, uranium and other metals in their body, but you go on as nothing happened to disturb your “peace” songs.

mark and yael,
the united nation has recieved a dicision in 1947 to devide palestine. one part for the palestinians, the other for the “jewish state
“. yes the un itself defined it “jewish state”. israel is an ethnic state. like Belgium or france. i will not apologize for it. my grandfather survived the holocaust, the other one escaped Morocco, not because his life were too good. where do you want me to go?? poland or morocco?

mark- do not insult my intelligence and dont beleive the crap thay feed you with- the president of iran has threatend to wipe israel off the map. the difference between israel and iran is simple- WE have never threaten to wipe iran off the map.
you are so full of yourself. when was the last time you had to choose between democracy or human lives? its so easy for you. when was the last time you have been in israel or gaza??? and again, those who wish to have human rights do not blow themselvs up in the middle of tel aviv. the israeli court has many times kept the human rights of everybody- including the palestinians. but you dont know about it because you only read what yael reads- one sided, non historical and biosed essays.
and yes, jews from all around the world are wellcomed in israel. no one else. like britain, france and the usa have their immigrant policy. yes, only jews. im sorry you all, you cant immigrant to israel.
“Wars that Israel or the zionist movement has started have been passed off as defence or retaliation. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has been blamed on the Palestinians themselves and still Israel is presented as a victim”… well done and where have you read this??? in the “history of the arab nations, by ahmedinijad”??? i dont know where you get your information, but stop reading one side story.
i am not saying israel has nothing to be blamed for, the other way around.yes, arab israelies
but if you think palestinians are the victims you are dead wrong.

yael- like mark, i dont know what the hell you raed. ALL the links you posted are not even academic. come on, if you want to proof something, do not use those articals.
yes i served in those roadblocks. no i did not do any crimes- i never hit nobody, cursed or abused nobody. no metter how down i was, or how hot it was. have you ever been there yael??? its so easy for you to criticize us. you think you are better. you are not. i want to be jewish in a jewish state.i will not apologize for the so called 1948 crimes, i did not do it. did morocco apologized for the oppression of my father and grand father?. thats the way life goes.
there are 2 side to every story. stop thinking you know all. israel is no saint. the palestinians have a part in their situation.

ron,
It is quite likely you have been in Gaza more recently than me, that is if you went there with the Israeli army for a killing spree. Were you there with the Israeli soldiers leaving behind graffiti, declaring: “The Zionist occupier was here,” and “We came to annihilate you”? [see Under a white flag, darkly by Amira Hass]
Having read your rather revealing statement, “had to choose between democracy or human lives”, it reads as a euphemism. In my experience this is a disclosure that your concern is not to stop Israeli crimes, only to stop them being exposed. Would your choice be to silence the Israeli journalist Amira Hass or were you among the Israelis, who last month tried to force the publisher, Haaretz, to close down because it revealed too much evidence of Israeli war crimes and generals breaking the law?
I was in Gaza 2 years ago, unlike you, I was there as a guest respecting the lives of my hosts.
When my parents escaped Nazi Germany [before Kristalnacht], the racism they suffered was not as vicious and lethal as that suffered by the Palestinians for decades.
What do you know about difficult decisions?? You cannot for one minute even imagine the difficult decisions Palestinians in Gaza have to make, when every night entire families go to bed hungry. Their hunger is possible because you and most other Israelis support the state and its army that restricts food delivery to quantities that would just keep them alive [see Gaza bonanza by By Yotam Feldman and Uri Blau], so many of them die. Of course, the journalist, Uri Blau, who exposed this also works [or should I say worked because he is now in hiding in London] for Haaretz and his articles were the reasons so many Israelis wanted to shut it down completely.

Do you know how the Warsaw Ghetto started, do you know about the calorie intake calculations?
I don’t think you lose sleep because of what is done in your name and with your complicity.
There is no sign you care your government and army prohibit avocado from being delivered to Gazans, while Israel exports them to Europe.
Are you surprised that unlike you, people of conscience are outraged with Israeli policies against 1.5 million human beings?
You have already given us a few hints that you probably don’t consider Palestinians as equal human beings. The history of the Holocaust and other genocides shows that dehumanisation of the victims is an essential stage in the implementation of genocides.

Dear Gil
I must admit that I was one of those protestors at your concert at the Royal Festiival Hall. I showered your audience with flyers to tell them about the complicity of the racist government of Israel, and not to “fuck up” your show, as you put it. We did try to write to you, but you did not respond to us so we had to communicate with you in another way! I also shouted at you to make my voice carry over the audience, and not because I am a well educated Palestinian woman taking refuge, like eight million other Palestinians of the Diaspora. I do not have a right of return to my country, Palestine and nor do all my family who were chased out of Haifa in 1948 by Hagana/Stern Gang – terrorists who later became Prime Ministers of Israel. So, until Israel recognises my right of return, until Israel treats me as an equal citizen of my country, then I urge you to stick to your principles and not be pressured into performing in Israel, not in May, not until it stops being an Apartheid state.

And by the way, your joke about frightening white old ladies was racist, and so was the one about Black people finding ‘February’ hard to spell. I am sure you can do better than that!

Just to balance things though, as I am sure you are finding this a bit harsh, I loved your music! You transmogrified into another being when your started singing! In ABBA’s lyrics, “Thank you for the music …”

Past.

Comment

Hi Im a massive fan but I have to ask you please dont go ahead with this gig! You probably are unaware but Palestinians have called for a boycott of apartheid Israel similar to the boycott of apartheid south africa. They have 3 demands;

an end to the occupation

the refugees right of return to be implemented

Palestinians in Israel to have equal rights as Jews.

By ignoring the call for boycott you are prolonging the injustice against the Palestinian people, please dont do it!

well joe. i’m a big fan as well as you
and i realy would like to see Mr. scott
performing here in Israel.
btw. if there is any chance for pease (unfurtunly i’m using the word IF) so, art, music and education will be the guidence for that and not boycotting any kind of issue.
lots of love toyou Mr. scott
cant wait for your arrival.

I have been a fan of your for many years, and am surprised that someone who has always stood so strongly for justice for the oppressed and downtrodden would agree to appear in Israel. Please reconsider. To paraphrase what you sang in “The Vulture”, you will be standing in the ruins of another [Palestinians]life.

I got to see you perform at Essence Fest ’08, and still get shivers when I recall that performance. You are such a treasure for all people, but especially those who know oppression. And before sharing your voice with an audience in Tel Aviv, I hope you will think about the many Palestinians left voiceless by Apartheid and occupation. Please stand up to Israeli Apartheid, just as you stood up to Apartheid South Africa. Please lend your voice to the revolution yet again, which will not be Tel Aviv-ized!!

I’m a big fan of your music. As a Jewish Israeli citizen, I am asking you:
Please heed the PACBI call. No “business as usual” as long as apartheid, oppression and dispossession go on here, with the support of most Western governments.

Your music and poetry has inspired me in ways that I can not explain. You’re voice has been a beacon of light in a world of oppression and struggle for years. It is for this reason that I respectfully ask you to reconsider your trip and performance in tel aviv. You have been an outspoken advocate against apartheid in south Africa. You have seen the horrors of oppression here in the united states purpertrated against us. It is only right to acknowledge the atttrociities committed against our brothers and sisters in palestine by the state of Israel. I have had a chance to see them first hand in Gaza. The reality on the ground is vastly different than what is reported in the media for as we all know the revolution will not be televised nor can it be tel-avived.

Like all the others who have sent you messages on this thread, I love your music and poetry. Your words have been an inspiration to innumerable people. Like most of those who have responded thus far to this scheduled trip to Tel Aviv, I will voice my concern about the message this concert will send to the Palestinian people, not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but the entire diaspora. The 6 million refugees who are watching the rest of the world are wondering how long it will take for us to stand up for them against the forces that have left them voiceless for over 6 decades. Please cancel your concert in Tel Aviv. As someone with a long history of struggle against racism and colonialism, your voice on this issue is a very important one. It is true that no matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn around—but that is not an excuse to keep your back to the oppressed until the time for solidarity is more convenient. Please turn around now, face your Brothers and Sisters, and let your actions speak at beautifully as your words.

Gil,I thought long and hard about whether it was appropriate for me to ask you to reconsider your gig in Tel Aviv. I will set aside your iconic status and plea with you as one human being to another. A majority of Israelis supported last years ‘War’ on Gaza in which scores of hundreds of innocent men,women and children were vaporised in their homes. Many Israelis openly consider Palestinians as vermin to be eradicated. Many of these Israelis will attend your gig wearing peace slogans and singing along to your grooves while praising you for giving the world the impression that Israel is a normal functioning democracy. Don’t be a dupe for their benefit. Salaam, Shalom and Peace brother. Eoghan

As a longtime defender of the oppressed, your complicity in Israel’s brutal occupation and apartheid of Palestine is going against what you have stood for. Stand by your Brothers and Sisters who for over 6 decades have faced this harsh injustice that affects every aspect of life- respect the call to boycott apartheid Israel and cancel your concert in Tel Aviv.

Tell me, Brother Gil, have you heard from Johannesburg? Please, respect the Palestinian call for boycott of the Apartheid Israeli regime. Respect your own legacy as a voice of resistance to racism and oppression everywhere. As you would not play Sun City, do not play Tel Aviv!

I urge you to reconsider performing in Israel, and was frankly kind of shocked seeing that you have a scheduled performance in Tel Aviv… I can’t see how that is compatible with any of your strong lyrics against oppression. South Africa got rid of their apartheid, because people like you took a stand against it and refused to deal with the oppressive regime.

But apartheid still exists in Palestine, the occupation is over 40 years old, and if anyone had a hope that Israels political class would change on their own, the latest massacre in Gaza must have put a short stop to those thoughts. We all know the stories of the schools, power plants, hospitals that got bombed, and the civilians and children who were murdered.

By performing in Tel Aviv, you legitimize Israel’s violence against Palestinians. I hope you reconsider and instead join the BDS movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until their oppression is forced to a halt.

I am a huge fan Gil and I am deeply shocked that you would play in Tel Aviv.
You must know that should this gig go ahead you can expect the rest of your tour to be marred and ruined by the obvious protests by those of us who feel strongly about wanting freedom for Palestine. Please re-consider…Israel is a fascist state – dont play there. !!!

Brother GIl, please remember that the state of Israel stands against everything you sing/talk about. In the words of Johannesbourg ‘i’m glad to see resistance growing’ – lets keep up that resistance and put an end this fascist apartheid state. Please do not play there!! Thank you

Please don’t play apartheid Israel. The only people in Israel who live the call of your music will have to boycott your performance. Don’t play white city as you did not play sun city. Please stand against apartheid!

Your agreeing to play a gig in the last of the colonial settler states is already a disgrace which has hurt the Palestine solidarity movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the racist war criminals of the State of Israel. But it’s not too late to call it off and you should call it off as soon and as publicly as possible.

Half an hour’s drive from the almost Arabrein city of Tel Aviv, is Gaza. Gaza has a population of 1.5 m people, 1 m of whom actually come from Israel but are barred from their natural hinterland and barely exist behind a blockade.

Only 15 or 16 months ago Israel was raining white phosphorous and other incendiary and explosive materials on the civilian people and infrastructure of Gaza while the people there were trapped. According to polls, the assault on Gaza had the support of over 90% of Israel’s Jewish population. This is the fruit of Israel being treated like a normal state when, as a state for people from abroad, based on the ethnic cleansing of the natives, it is anything but normal.

Just recently, Israel tightened up legislation to make the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank easier than it already was and many Palestinians live in exile from both Israel and the lands it seized in 1967.

It’s hard to believe that someone of your political outlook is ignorant of what it is that makes the racist colony of Israel stand out among serial human rights abusers but hopefully I have set out some good reasons for you to change course back to the one you are most noted for.

You are one of many activists who used their art to push the struggle for African Americans equality and liberation here in the US and abroad in countries like South Africa during the Apartheid rule. I am a fan of your music and its role in those liberation struggles. Becuase of the role your art plays in the fight for equality, I would also like to urge you to not perform in Tel Aviv. The people of Palestine like the people of South Africa are terrorized by the apartheid state of Israel. Both Mendela and Rev. Arch Bishop Desmound Tutu have publically assertted this fact.

Since 1948, when jewish zionist were given a huge part of Palestinian land by the Brittish Empire (which was not their’s to give either), the western European zionists have forcibly removed and/or massacred Palestinians in order to create a “Jewish Only” state. In so doing, they have built massive iron walls around most of the West Bank to secure water wholes and olive groves that were never theirs to begin with. To name one of the atrocities that the zionist state, an apartheid state, continue to do to the people of Palestinians. That is why Rev Tutu openly states that Israel is an apartheid state and supports the boycott/divestment strategy in defunding an apartheid state. Here is a link to a letter Rev Tutu wrote in approval of divestment: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april112010/desmond-tutu-dt.php.

Don’t go to Tel Aviv and support a racist apartheid state. Use your art to stand up against the racism of the state of Israel and the atrocities it committs on the Palestinians people in the name of judaism. Because like African Americans in the US Palestinians have a right to live as equals in their own land. They have a right to return to their farms and homes that they were driven out of in 1948, 1967 and with the many home demolitions that continue to this day. Support the Palestinian liberation struggle!

For more information, you can go to pslweb.org, on the page you will find a radio broadcast by Mumia Abu Jamal advocating for the Palestinian liberation struggle.

Please don’t normalize Israel’s actions by playing there. In doing so you would undermine the important work of the BDS campaign and stand on the wrong side of history. We must continue to stand against apartheid!

I grew up listening to your music, I was born in exile in the UK but I am South African. I recall the support you gave us during our struggle – thank you. I think you should be doing the same for our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are denied the most basic human rights,ON THEIRANCESTRALLAND. Please boycott apartheid Israel.

Dear Gil, I am shocked to hear that you are breaking the anti-apartheid boycott by performing in Israel. You have always been a supporter of human rights and a voice for the oppressed—how can you lend your credibility to Israel as it engages in mass violations of human rights, particularly only one year after the massacre of over 1000 Palestinians in Gaza last year that many have compared to the apartheid regime’s Sharpeville massacre? What message will you send to the Palestinian political prisoners and those living under occupation behind the apartheid wall when they see that you have come to entertain their oppressors? Just think about what message you would have sent to the ANC by performing for a crowd of white South Africans during apartheid’s reign. If you have any integrity left, you will cancel this performance and declare your solidarity with the Palestinian victims of Israeli apartheid, not the oppressors, as you did during the apartheid struggle. I would encourage you to learn about the apartheid situation in Palestine and think about your responsibility as a respected artist and advocate for social justice.

You are playing music while the Israeli Zionists are butchering women and children and stealing yet more land and still NOT abiding by ANY U.N resolutions in its history
same as apartheid in south Africa
in fact worse than the racist regime from south AfricaDONTPLAYFORCHILDKILLERS !!!!!

Please do not play your concert in Israel. You are a long-term progressive whose work I have always admired. A boycott is a means to put non-violent pressure on the Israeli government to treat Palestinians consistently with human rights and to put pressure for a just peace in the middle east. As human beings, we have a responsibility to ensure the human rights of all. Your boycott will carry a lot of weight and put pressure on others.

I admit that I am not a follower of your music but I was born in South Africa and am a Jew. I lived through apartheid, left the country and worked towards a free South Africa. I admired all the artists who chose not to go to that country and to show solidarity with those under the yoke of apartheid. You stood out. Today I as a Jew recognise that what Israel is doing is exactly the same as what South Africa was doing in the heyday of apartheid. Just one small example. Even in South Africa they did not have separate roads for Black people, in the occupied territories they have separate roads for the indigenous Palestinians and roads for Jewish settlers.
If you really care for people, if you are against all racism, if you value your integrity more than either money or power, then I urge you to listen to the pleas of those under the yoke of a barbaric occupation and refuse to play Tel Aviv until the occupation ends and Israel’s army of occupation returns to the barracks.
Thank you
Zelig

Someone told me that it must be the case that you are simply unaware of what is going on in Palestine/Israel… how it would be nice to believe that… however, it’s hard to believe when you know that you headlined a show for a palestinian solidarity organisation a few years ago… have you forgotten? have you been provided with a huge financial incentive? by playing in israel you will render all that you have done in the past meaningless and emply… you will be a fraud… it’s not too late though… DO THERIGHTTHING… PLEASE

By performing in Israel you are validating the apartheid state, one that has systematically oppressed the Palestinian people for decades and is responsible for war crimes. Israel is my generations’ South Africa. Please, do as you did in the ’80s, support the boycott and support the Palestinain people.

Well done to all the protesters who were brave enough to face down the wrath of the crowd and to throw leaflets through the air and shout in between songs, it clearly had an effect on Gil throughout the show and I don’t think he would have announced the cancellation of the Tel-Aviv show without this very direct pressure being applied.

I think he was embarrassed and ashamed, as he didn’t engage with the protesters in any way at the start of the show; he wanted to shrug them off, when he had a perfect opportunity to engage with them, as all he was doing at that point was telling some bad jokes and chatting. Then, almost at the end of the show, he said that the Tel-Aviv booking wouldn’t go ahead, but he mumbled something about scheduling and dates and people not being able to read. He got a standing ovation anyway, and a lot of tension was released. It was clear then that a lot of people had been at the show and felt very conflicted. Personally, I couldn’t enjoy it at all. Listening to him singing ‘Work For Peace’ and singing about how ‘everyone is talking about peace but no one wants to work for it’ was very difficult to stomach as I imagined him performing the same show in Israel.
Glad he didn’t sell out, he should’ve confronted this issue head on though and not mutter something about ‘scheduling’ to get him off the hook.

I had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right, well it is right now. This has, ironically, gained more attention to the situation in Palestine than had Gil just simply chosen not to play Tel Aviv in the first place. So this is not a victory, but a potential damaging situation rectified. I was not lookong forward to living with a big negative connected to the mighty GSH. I commend the support of all you Israelis who choose to support the cause of Palestine, it must be a lot harder for you than most. To all who agitated to change Gil’s (or his management’s) mind on the Tel Aviv gig… Respect X

It’s good that you have canceled your show in occupied Palestine. The next step is to think about why you considered it in the first place.

We write to you from the southern suburbs of Beirut – one of the heartlands of resistance to the Zionist military machine that tries to destroy us and Lebanon every few years.

We are rappers and independent artists who are mostly from the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon. We proudly state this even though we know we are modern history’s most permanent refugees. Our parents and grandparents were forced of their villages and into exile. Palestine lives right in front of our eyes, runs through our blood and helps our hearts continue to beat when they attack. We will return

We talk about you as the elder of hip hop and make sure that new young recruits to hip hop listen to your work and sober up… to forget the hype and get into the core of it. You can image what it felt like when we heard you plan to play on the ruins of our villages and inside our dispossession.

One needs to hold onto principles. Personal honor and ethics are necessary. That’s in fact how we survive colonialism, chemical warfare, carpet bombing, precision bombing, constant surveillance, siege, total occupation and the attempt to erase us as a people.

The enemy is the enemy and from him you get what you expect. But the betrayal of a brother, a teacher, an elder is like the slash of a knife…

Please Cancel you Tel Aviv Show.
Stand up for the TRUTH and for JUSTICE.
Do not play in a city built on top of destroyed villages and on stolen land while the original inhabitants live trapped inside Gaza miles away unable to not only attend your concert, but live freely in their own country!

I do live in that place called Tel Aviv. and i do know that so many people in tel aviv, your fans included, are waiting to listen to you, be inspired by your words, music and vibe. They need inspiration for a revolution

4 months ago Saul Williams spoke in Tel Aviv. He shocked and shaken hundreds of people who are willing to wake up, stand up and make a change, but if they wont have people like you to encourage them – it will never happen.

I feel that you HAVE to come to tel aviv! just even to remind people that there is another way…
while you come i really hope you’ll visit Bilin, Gaza and Hebron. talk to people who live here and feel here.tell them your truth. you can make a change, or even just plant the seeds…

congratulations, for taking the first step to cancel your tel aviv gig, mr. gil scott heron. me and loads of my palestinian friends and global bds activists (these activists even exist in israel!) alike are send you lot’s of encouragement, so that you may follow through with your announcement in london and publicly re-confirm that you will not play in tel aviv. we encourage you to not forget your bold actions with regards to apartheid south africa. we encourage you not to validate notions that progressive and non-progressive israeli’s need a reminder of the crimes their government and military commit on a daily basis. if they need reminding to change their community, all they need do is open their eyes and look next door and at the the world around them. encourage progressive israeli’s to change their communities, by making public your reasons for supporting the palestinian voice.

Gil Scott-Heron, great anti-Apartheid artist, is patronizing Tel Aviv? You are making a mockery of everything, everything you have stood for, and you are betraying all those who supported you and admired you all these years. Gil, you cannot claim ignorance of what you are doing! Don’t add to the suffering of the Palestinians — CANCELTHEGIG IN ISRAEL.

if you really have done the right thing and càncelled this gig why is it still being advertised on your website 24 hours after your announcement at the rfh. its your website, its your responsibility.

It was a fantastic performance at the RFH last night but you know that the protesters last night did so in a righteous cause. When Emery Douglas called for you to re-think did you see the light during your interlude after being badly advised earlier? What you said last night was wrong. It simply wasn’t right to call those protesting fans assholes. Your lyrics still mean something to so many of us but much of your audience shared the protesters views and many were ready to walk out after your crass and ineloquent asshole comments. the fancy dressed z list celebrity pissheads talking and walking in and out all through your act at the front, just wanting to be seen at the best gig in town, some of them shouting “fuck palestine” were a true disgrace that you simply helped to encourage. You owe your real fans an apology, not the protesters!

Celebrate, Celebrate?

Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tell it like it really is
Wake up to this wake up call
and what goes on behind that wall

Dear Gil,
You are american. America is doing war crimes in Iraq and afgahninstan. You are performing in Germany. Germany killed 6 millions jews. how can you cancel your show in Tel Aviv and still perform in the US, England and Germany?

By NOT playing Tel Aviv Gil would show his support to the Israelis who genuinely oppose the Israeli crimes. Indeed, Israeli activists support the boycott – see BOYCOTT!
I’m an Israeli and appalled to hear the apologists for the Israeli war crimes, Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and siege.
Calls to break the boycott are calls to encourage Israelis to continue with their complicity with the crimes against the Palestinians.

Gil I sincerely believe you should do as your self professed fan and comrade and fellow poet Saul Williams has down – come, perform, engage in dialogue, share the complexity of the situation, visit the occupied territories. Make a stand there. Stand near the apartheid wall and read “the revolution will not be televised”. Come and meet the people of Bil’in…

As Greg Dulli said when playing here: we’re coming to play for the people, not their government’s policy.

Please make the distinction. There are israeli fans of you here, waiting to hear what you have to say. Some of them agree with the government, some don’t.

As for me, I don’t agree with everything my government is doing, as I am sure you don’t agree with yours.

I think the word “Apartheid” is being thrown in to this discussion much to easily and with no real thought as to what it means. There is no Apartheid in Israel. Yes, there is no real equality and the situation is very complicated in too many ways. But it is not one-sided, it is not binary, it is not Evil VS Good. There is evil and good on both sides.

Gil dear, I second every word Guy (comment #65) said.
When the news of your gig where published, I thought of surprising my love with a ticket, because he is a big fan of yours. He also happens to be a part of http://israleft.org/ – the only English-speaking Israeli blog that works to bring out the sad, ugly and uneasy political & social stories that take place in this country.
Not coming to perform here tells those who encouraged you to do so on behalf of boycotting that the VOICE of Israleft, of Israeli & Palestinian activists, of peace believers and dreamers SHOULDNOT BE HEARD.
And what sound does that leave us with? The shouts of the extremist, the cries of the warmongers, the “no partner for peace” slogans, the laughter of the right-winged who are content with war and take pleasure in every proof for that they could get their hands on.
On behalf of those striving for peace and cooperation between two miserable people who suffer incompetent leadership, I ask you not to hand such proof to the hands of the disbelievers.
Gil – You are a master of music. You of all people should know that sounds must not be hushed.

Gil, there were many whites who fought Apartheid, but that didn’t stop you supporting the boycott. The difference is that there are much fewer Israelis who genuinely oppose the Israeli Apartheid.
Gil, don’t be fooled by claims of “perform, engage in dialogue”.
We’ll welcome you to engage in conversation about the Israeli Apartheid, but not by breaking the boycott.
Your true fans appreciated your call to boycott Sun City and now we hope you’ll boycott Tel Aviv.
Please listen to the plight of the Palestinians, NOT to the apologists for racism, Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and siege.
I am an Israeli and like many of your other fans would be mortified if you allow the Israeli apologists to mislead you with calls to “share the complexity of the situation” [another typical Israeli propaganda] as an excuse to break the boycott.
Israelis rarely see it contradictory to consider themselves “peaceniks” and support the slaughter of Palestinians. For example, self-proclaimed “peacenik” Israeli singer, Achinoam Noa Nini, wrote while Israel was slaughtering Gaza a year ago:
“I can only wish for you that Israel will do the job we all know needs to be done, and finally RIDYOU of this cancer, this virus, this monster called fantacism, today, called Hamas.”
“Now I see the ugly head of fanaticism, I see it large and horrid, I see it’s black eyes and spine-chilling smile, I see blood on its hands and I know one of its many names: Hamas”
“You know this too, my brothers. You know this ugly monster. You know it is raping your women and raping the minds of your children. You know it is educating to hatred and death. You know it is chauvinistic and violent, greedy and selfish, it feeds on your blood and screams out Allah’s name on vain, it hides like a thief, uses the innocent as human shields, uses your mosques as arsenals, lies and cheats, uses YOU, tortures you, holds you hostage!!”
See Achinoam Nini Blog

Dear Yael (comment #67), and the rest of the pro-boycott commentators – if what you’re saying is true, then “much fewer Israelis who genuinely oppose the Israeli Apartheid” have no reason to exist.
What reason do we have to act upon our beliefs and fight the hatred and bigotry and disbelievers and human rights violators – if in the end, we are all labeled just the same?
Have the Israelis and Jews protesting in Bil’in, Na’alin and Sheikh Jarakh taught you nothing? Have the thousands of people who joined Facebook groups such as “Israelis say NO to the attack on Gaza” and “Jews and Arabs Refuse to Be Enemies” mean nothing to you? The beautiful, brave kids refusing to serve in IDF and suffering torching hatred over their stance against occupation? We are few, I’m so terribly sorry for being aware of that, but instead of encouraging our growth you want to make us extinct.
You think a boycott is the only way left to mend Israel’s ways? That the hard work from the inside activists has no future to it? All our efforts in vain? If what you’re saying is true, then it means there is no hope for the end of occupation. Because ending the occupation could only come once Israelis figure out how wrong it is, just as a stubborn kid won’t be softened by the whips of the father. By fighting those among the Israelis who have already opened their eyes and attempting to make a change, you set the rightist’s fire on that hope. Well, at least Netanyahu and Liberman will be proud of you – leftists who joyfully help Israel remain the racist, criminal state it is.

don’t let your management and lawyers twist your arm gil scott. don’t do it! don’t forget south africa, don’t forget the people (the people who live in war daily), don’t forget them just because you can. live up to the words you spoke in london, royal albert hall, about not playing in israel until everyone is welcome there. delete this tour date from your list, and close the box office on tel aviv. live up to the words you spoke so publicly last night when all eyes were on you. boycott israel, cancel tel aviv.

Dear Gil,
Please reconsider your choice NOT to perform in Tel Aviv. A man like you should know that collective punishments are no good.
It’s a cheap demagoguery to say that by performing in Tel-Aviv you’ll support and legitize Israel’s policy.
It wont function as a protesting act against Israel goverement, whom never heared your name I can assure you. You’ll only hurt your true fans in Israel like me who teared with excitement when they heared that you’ll come here.
Once again – you’re not punishing Israel by not coming to Tel Aviv, you’re only punishing the simple people who just want to listen to your music.
You’re not being novel or remaining true to yourself, you’re being a hypocrite.
I am a human being, Joe or Sarah here are human beings. we both have shitty goverements.
by performing to them and not to me you being immoral. once again and for the last time – You’re NOT acting against GOVERMENT, you’re acting against PEOPLE. acting against me.

not to mention the political and reality distortion that going around the comments here. what a poor way to see the world; white, the good guys, the Palestinians, and black, the bad guys, the Israelis.
the middle east conflict is very complex. there is no one side that is right and one side that is wrong. you’re a musician, not a politician. performing in Tel Aviv have no political meaning, only musical. anyone who says otherwise doesn’t care for music. spread music and love, not boycots and hatred.

Dear LiBERTiNE(comment #68),
now that we agree that “We are few” [Israelis who oppose the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians] and our efforts should not be dismissed, the question is whether it is right for us to demand that the Palestinian’s call for boycott should be broken for our sake??
You ask whether I “think a boycott is the only way left to mend Israel’s ways?”
Of course it isn’t the only, but it is necessary. Isn’t it obvious that with Israel’s military power, when Palestinians are being ethnic cleansed, boycott is the least we can do?
You ask whether “the hard work from the inside activists has no future to it?” Of course it has a future, in fact an important one, but does it need to be on condition the boycott is broken?
You ask whether “All our efforts in vain?” I truly hope it isn’t, but why should that require breaking the boycott?
Your questions seem to assert that the Israeli activists are against boycott, which is untrue. Clearly you are against boycott, but that isn’t the position of many of the Israeli activist groups and individuals.
Do you understand the irony in your accusation that I/we “want to make us extinct” because we support boycott, when Palestinians actually die because of the siege?
“The beautiful, brave kids refusing to serve in IDF and suffering torching hatred over their stance against occupation” are appreciated, but not more than the beautiful, brave Palestinian kids being maimed and tortured by Israel. It is a dreadful situation, with lives being wasted, but to take away the Palestinian right to resist it by a boycott??
The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has been carried out by both, the Israeli right and so called “left”. Israel has remained “the racist, criminal state it is” under both, the Israeli right and “left” governments, because for too long the world was appeasing Israel. While the world fails to act against Israeli war crimes, Palestinians pay for it with their lives.
Now that anti-Apartheid and anti-racist Gil Scott-Heron announced he cancelled his Tel Aviv gig you concentrate your efforts to blackmail him to break the boycott – do you really care for the hungry children in Gaza?

LIBERTINE is full of shit. The war on Lebanon in 2006 – 33 days of raining terror on civilians – was “the first war by Peace Now” according to the Israeli paper Yediot Ahranot. Israelis who don’t support the boycott support the colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing and racist laws that define Israel. Some want the colonial settler system confined to 78% of what was Palestine. They also want 100% of Palestinians confined to 22% of Palestine. So the zionist left wants over three quarters of Palestine to be for the world’s Jews and the remaining less than a quarter to be reservations for the “aboriginal” population, ie the Palestinians.

The idea that Israel will come to its senses or make nice because people pander to it with visits is ludicrous. No one panders to the racist war criminals of the State of Israel more than the USA and Obama couldn’t even get Israel to refrain from the public ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Jerusalem and the announcement of more construction for Jews only. Obama even allowed Israel to build there some time ago but Israel had to publicly flex its colonial settler muscles much to the embarrassment of VP Biden. Where did appeasement get the USA in its dealings with Israel? You think Gil Scott Heron would do better?

Israel isn’t improving with age, it’s getting worse. I don’t know whether Gil Scott Heron was chasing money or if he was ignorant of the fact that Israel exists on the basis of on-going colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing and racist laws. That’s without getting into the relentless aggression, the targeting of children and the blockade of Gaza and the multi-ghettoisation of the West Bank.

Perhaps all the talk of the occupied territories, Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem has confused him. Perhaps he thinks Israel is a place apart from Palestine. It is not. It is the main part of Palestine and it exists because Palestine doesn’t. By playing there, Gil Scott Heron will help this essentially racist entity continue to exist.

How this sorry saga happened needs to be explained. Was it money? Say sorry. Was it ignorance? Learn and then say sorry.

Gil Scott Heron has disgraced himself with his decision to play in Tel Aviv.

We need a clear statement from him and his management that this Tel Aviv gig is not going ahead. But it is also important that Gil Scott Heron explains how it is that he came so close to undermining the boycott of the last of the colonial settler states. Apparently he has already tried to bullshit his way through an announcement in London but many people are looking and listening. I am hoping that the ludicrous comments from Israelis and zionists in this thread will open his eyes to how wrong he has been and to see how thrilled these racist war criminals will be if he played there.

This isn’t over yet. Tickets are still on sale for the gig in Tel Aviv and the gig is still listed on this site with no announcement to suggest that it has been cancelled.

gil,
home is where the hatred is, and its here in israel. by coming here you will give some peace-loving people a chance of change, a small light to show the way to stop hatred.
any act involved telling people what to do is an act of violence, and you will accept this violence by not coming to tel aviv.
we are waiting for you here, please dont let us down.
israel has been the homeland of civilization for thousend of years, the land isnt jewish nor palestinian, its still good old mother earth.
come and see how peaople are living hear,
and expect to find open ears to your words and music. peace

Was Gil anti-apartheid back in the days because it sold or because of principle? It is slowly starting to feel like the former. Gil, you’ve disappointed me and a number of many other fans who didn’t just love your music but what you stood for.

I call on people around the world to attend your concerts only to walk out in protest. It is not a boycott of you that we are calling for, but a boycott of Israel and its policies. We’ll tell that to your face, at your concerts, wherever and whenever they are. I’m sorry if it will ruin your night. We would prefer it to be so much different. We would prefer it if we could give you a standing ovation for your art and all you stand for. I’ll pray for this day to come soon but it will only be after a final confirmation that what happened at your concert in London is indeed true, and that you are not being played by your managers.

…“Israel is an apartheid state.” Those were not the words of Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu or Joe Slovo, but were uttered by none other than the architect of apartheid itself, racist Prime Minister, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd.
He was irked by the criticism of apartheid policy and Harold Macmillan’s “Winds of Change” speech , in contrast to the West’s unconditional support for Zionist Israel.
To be sure Verwoerd was correct. Both states preached and implemented a policy based on racial ethnicity; the sole claim of Jews in Israel and whites in South Africa to exclusive citizenship; monopolized rights in law regarding the ownership of land, property, business; superior access to education, health, social, sporting and cultural amenities, pensions and municipal services at the expense of the original indigenous population; the virtual monopoly membership of military and security forces, and privileged development along their own racial supremacist lines – even both countries marriage laws designed to safeguard racial “purity”.
The so-called “non-whites” in apartheid South Africa, indigenous Africans, others of mixed race or of Indian origin – like second or third class non-Jews in Israel – were consigned to a non-citizenship status of Kafkaesque existence, subject to bureaucratic whims and the laws prohibiting their free movement, access to work and trade, dictating where they could reside and so forth.
Verwoerd would have been well aware of Israel’s dispossession of indigenous Palestinian in 1948 – the year his apartheid party similarly came to power – of the unfolding destruction of their villages, the premeditated massacres and the systematic ethnic cleansing”

Link: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14924

Sham on everyone ignores the apartheid colonial reality of the Israeli state.

all you people talking about human rights- have you ever been in israel?? have you ever delt with the crap israel is dealing with every day for the last 62 years?? toy are talking about human rights, does your country give you all the human rights? half of the world denies human rights and israel is an easy target, have you ever asked yourself why?? if you support human rights you shouldnt deny the israelis their rights. hypocrites!!!!

ralph: you think 62 years is a long time? and what crap would that be? israel makes itself an easy target by welcoming USA military funding, bulldozing homes, paying no attention to international law, illegally occupying an entire people, murdering 1.5 million (and counting) people imprisoned and persecuted by your racist state. people who are guilty of that do not deserve to be called human, let alone deserve to have any kind of rights to anything. not even fancy names like gil scott. what crap exactly does israel deal with? do yourself a favor buddy, take a long hard look in the mirror and history, recognize the denial and lie you and your people have been living and breathing and “dealing with” for 62 years, cry and mourn over yourselves for another 62 years (and counting) and see if we’ll allow you to be re-integrated back into the species you claim to be a part of.

Real intellectual artist should be aware of the nature of the apartheid state of Israel. there is no need for the public to open the eyes of the artist! they are the ones usually lead to expose the rotten system of any racist society.

Mr Heron go head and entertain this apartheid state, with your announcement you insulted all the victims of this racist state and their supportes. With you or without you this colonial settler project will be exposed as the real grassroots movement did before to the old South African regime. We don’t need artists without conscious.

“But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” – Nelson Mandela

All the leftist here speak so highly and nicely. it’s all very nice but you do ignore and distort one major fact – Israel is not apartheid. Israel have murdered 1.5 million? hmm… what the *? Israel is not murdering kids. last year there has been a war at Gaza, in war innocent people are dying because of mistakes. ask NATO and the military activity in Afghanistan. once again you presenting it as white and black, good against evil, which is a twisted image of the reality. Palestinians are terrorizing Israel and there is no excuse for terror, not taken land and not occupation.
according to the twisted mind of some people here, by not performing in Tel Aviv you will support and legitimize the Palestinian terror and their (Hammas for example) inner violation of human rights

Maybe the spirit of abi natan and the voice of peace radio must be re-instated. You could help with that, you are quite influential Mr Scott-Heron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abie_Nathan

(please refer to the link above)

Reading all the comments from both “sides” i will only say that i strongly feel that we shouldnt all pursue the unattainable only the realistic and the helpful, to each other.
I only hope that we all one day break bread together instead of breaking bones.
Until then peace-salaam-shalom.

Yes, beyond the endless idelogical arguments thrust upon us here by various protesters about colonial this and ethhnic cleansing that, there is a way that is insightful and that doesnt monopolise on morality, reason or intelligence. That way is not wholly the way of the protesters, as they would have you belive.

Its just that all this inflammatory language that has been commandeered to destroy any hopes of peace by the objectors is racist and incorrect.

Firstly; the PLO are not the ANC.

Secondly; Apartheid in South Africa was a system based on racial ideas of superiority put in place by white colonists. BUT Half of Israelis are at least middle eastern in their genetic origins, there are some african jews too as well as the white europeans jews that are always been emphasised. Because to talk of “the whitey” gives weight to the struggle of resistance, but the non-white jews are always ignored in this debate. The wall was promarlioy built to prevent the waves of sucide bombers that used to day trip over into Israel on a daily basis. That has completely stopped now. Harsh but true. No babies and mothers getting blown up in pizza restaurants. No teenage kids in night clubs, working folk on buses. Put it in context people.

Thirdly; Arafat was offered a settling peace deal with Israel and refused because he wanted glory and the big prize. He refused it at Sharm el Sheikh.
Since then: Clinton got impreached for a blowjob and Bush got in and Barak was voted out due to being seen as unable to bring peace. Who says that these peoples politics arent interdependent and co-dependent??
and, where are Yassers billions now; the PLO national treasury is in the hands of his ex-wife and not in the hands of the people. Since he refused back in 2000, clinton went, Barak went, arafat died, theres been an intifada. Sharon got voted in built a wall, Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas got it. There have been 2 intersate wars etc. Hardly been a good build on the 1994 olso accords is it?

Please refer to the lyrics for Work for Peace “if everyone who wanted peace, who says they wanted, we would have it”

fourthly: to talk of zionism and judaism as seperate, they are not. Zionism is Judaism. Even the nuturei karta should they think the messiah has arrived, they too will be zionist. Its a detail. And then to talk of “Muslim lands” and deny Jewish or christian residence in these lands, its hypocritical. To say that over a whole region one people should be in religious and cultural dominance over all others, but in one small land another should not be allowed. That sounds like cultural imperialism to me. The stuff of monoculture.

fifthly; Kurds, Armenians are just 2 examples of losers in the post WW nation state building of the middle east. I dont exactly see the protesters lobbying, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran over these issues. The thing is, the middle eastern regimes eport their internal contradictions on to the israel issue and use it as a pretext to suppress and slaughter and remain in a martial society.

sixthly, and beleive me, i can go on, such enmity as is constaly eschewed from Israel’s neighbours and objectors just adds to the rejection and reactionary reflex. If you are constantly telling everyone how much a people should be hated and driven away; i ask you: what do you expect them to do?

Look, please refer to the lyrics for “Gun”. Feeling scraed is a basic human instinct. After all, thats why we have armies, right??

So, dont boycott israel. Play Israel. Have this “conversation with both Israelis and Palestinians” Add a jerusalem show to the tour as well.

I would like to add my thanks and praise to all those who applaud you for cancelling your gig in Tel Aviv, Apartheid Israel.

I am sure you have made this decision because you understand that when we talk about peace, we must always talk about justice in the same breath.

There is no justice for the Palestinians of Gaza, the West Bank, those who live inside the borders of the Israel state, or those exiled around the world.

Your decision was so important because we know that Israel is bolstered by the US and other western powers, both economically and politically, and that responsibility therefore lies with us, civil society, to act against this injustice. The same was true in South Africa – I remember those days when the US and British governments were supporting the racist apartheid state of South Africa (they would never admit it now), and South Africans had to resist against the odds, and internationals around the world had to find our way to support their resistance. Artists Against Apartheid were one part of that international solidarity.

We now face the same situation in Palestine, and we have to act. Thankyou for setting an example to other musicians around the world in making a brave and wise decision.

your comments simply do not implicate either the pan arabist history, the facist ba’athism or the complicty of racist organisations in their enmity towards Israel.
The palestinians lose, the israelis lose.

dear selina,
you asked what crap- suicide bombers are good enough? people who suicude in order to murder kids have no respect for human rights and the western civilization. but they do want other people to respect their human rights.
i am not israeli and i am not even jewish. i am french and i currently live in london. i see and hear many people talking about the “Apartheid” in israel. are you kidding me? where else arabs have freedom of speech?? not in egypt, syria, lebanon, tunisia and jordan. i have been there. have you been there and try to talk against the government selina? do you know why the israelis and palestinians fight? the palestinians themselvs deprive the human rights of the people of gaza.
i have been in israel 3 years ago. i spent 6 months over there. i was on my way from jordan to egypt and i got stuck over there. i didnt believe my own eyes, is this what apartheid looks like? i was ignorant, just like you. all the knowledge i had was from the evening news. let me tell you something selina- dont believe the news, at least not all the time.
and for all of you hypocrites- the usa, france, uk, germany and spain- all of these countries deprive human rights. so dear gil i think the moon is available.

Dear Mr. Scott-Heron:
I was a member of the occupation forces of
India in the post-war 1940s. My armed service
days opened my mind and eyes to the evil
embedded in the practical application of
occupation, exploitation, and forceful subjection of any ‘peoples’ regardless of
ethnicity, religion or culture.
So my friend. Continue your boycott of Israel. Do NOT give our Jewish friends any leverage to
justify their continued occupation, exploitation and forceful subjection of the
Palestinian/Arab peoples.
Time is running out as Ehud Barak the Israeli
Defence Minister made very clear the other
day. So this is not the time for anyone person
or nation to weaken or relent in the just
cause for Justice and Freedom.

I find it hard to believe that a colonial policeman from the time of the Raj would even be aware of Gil SCott Heron, and at the risk of sounding age-ist, they wouldve been leaving India at the time that Gils SCott Heron was born.

I simply think that apart from a couple of young activists, the majority of the “examples offered” of various testamonies here, are simply a replication by a few individuals to make the few appear as the many.

Judging by testimonies of the performance at the Royal Festival Hall, neither the other conert goers or Gil himself appreciated this hijacking of the performance.

I see no problem with him playing Tel Aviv and i dont see what playing tel aviv has to do with south africa, the raj or any other mercurial links.

dear freinds,
a short quize for all of you:
1.which president has threaten to erase another country off the map??
-the president of iran threaten to wipe israel off the globe
2. in which part of the world hip hop dance is considered “not moral”?
-the gaza strip. 2 days ago the palesitnian government stopped a hip hop show because it is “not moral”
3. in which country all citizens have freedom of speech, the right to vote and totally equal rights?
-israel. yes, include all ARAB citizens
4. in which country the citizens DO NOT have freedom of speech, the right to vote and totally equal rights? – ALL arab countries.
5. which countries say israel does not concider the palestinians human rights?china, syria, lybia, egypt, etc. read this list again. yes, CHINA. lybia remember lockerbie???????
before all of you guys say israel occupie arab territory, or israel is apartheid state you should learn some facts. go raed some books, not newspapers or arab essays. there are 2 sides to every story. you know only one.IGNORANCE IS NOT A BLISS

The good news is that Gil Scott-Heron, the musician who called to boycott Apartheid South Africa, now boycotts Israel.
He said on stage on 24 Apr 10 that he didn’t want to play Tel Aviv where not everyone is welcome. Only people in denial would miss the reference to the Palestinians being separated by the Israeli Apartheid, racism, roadblocks and siege.
Boycott is necessary to remind Israelis that the propaganda about being a democracy and other lies are no longer believed.
Many people are now informed of the reality of discrimination against ~1.5 million Palestinians having Israeli ID.
The slaughter of Gaza a year ago – why did you not mention it??
The boycott is to send you a message that while you don’t even bother to mention the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, we are disgusted and outraged how you deny food and medicine from 1.5 million Palestinians.
While Israelis, not just the government, are complicit and involved in causing hunger and death – do you really expected to be treated like a democracy?
Instead of preaching to others, get your facts right. Read about the “democracy”: Gaza – A manufactured catastrophe
andRights group fears sweeping deportations from West Bank
andRenewed attacks on human rights groups in Israel

yael
“discrimination against ~1.5 million Palestinians having Israeli id”. people beleive this kind of crap. the fact is they get the human rights as other israelis. roadblocks? what the hell are you talking about??? there are no road blocks in haifa, ackare, tzefat, negev, or any otherisraeli soil. that is a fact. israeli arabs have the right to vote- fact. israeli arabs has representation in the israeli parliament like any other group- fact. israeli arabs have freedom of speech- fact. israeli arabs have freedom of movement- hell, arab members of the israeli parliament went to meet kadafi in lybia. kadafi- the great human rights keeper.
there are 2 sides to every story. what country is a full democracy??? name one. israel is doing its best in this particular situation. people who want human rights should give human rights. arabs do not speak this language. look how they tore down new york, madrid, london, tel aviv- that is fact. you speak the human rights language- they dont. if gil boycot israel he should boycot europe, us, south america, africa and asia. he could go on stage in canada. or the moon.
there are 2 sides yael. you only know onw.
ignorance is not a bliss

Arabs do not have the same rights as Jews throughout the whole of Palestine including the towns and areas you name. Right now Arabs are being ethnically cleansed in the Negev. The can’t get planning permission or utilities for their villages. They are told they can’t wander, they are told they can’t settle. Negev for those that don’t know, is part of “Israel” since 1948 and there is still a campaign to Judaise it as there is in the Galilee area.

Arabs have the right to vote and there are Arab members of Israel’s Knesset but they cannot openly campaign for racial or religious equality in Palestine because judges have ruled that this would undermine the Jewishness of the state, which of course it would.

Referring to an earlier comment, no one has threatened to destroy Israel. Ahmadinejad of Iran was misquoted as having said something about Israel being “wiped from the map” but he actually said that Israel will fall from the pages of history like the Soviet Union. Even if he said that Israel should be wiped from the map that is hardly a threat given that Israel is so well protected. Israel has nuclear weapons, a genocidal ideology and a history of relentless aggression towards the natives and neighbours of what used to be Palestine. At the moment Iran has far more to fear from Israel than the other way around.

Actually I’ve only just noticed your openly racist final paragraph.

“people who want human rights should give human rights. arabs do not speak this language.”

Thanks for confirming that the anti-boycotters in this thread weren’t fans of Gil Scott Heron in the first place. But that’s not all. You are now admitting that Arabs throughout Palestine (from the river to the sea) do not have basic human rights and you seek to justify this on the grounds that there are Arab dictatorships. Well done Ron. I wish more zionists were like you.

But maybe even you can understand that there is a difference between boycotting Israel and boycotting other states. No other state exists more for people that don’t come from there than for people that do. It is true that many states have colonial settler backgrounds but Israel is the only colonial settler work in progress where people from abroad are invited to come and live there whilst people from there (to give just 1 million examples, two thirds of Gaza’s population) are banned from there. There is no other state that is predicated on that state of affairs.

Finally, there is another issue that makes Israel stand out from other serial human rights abusers and that is the sheer volume of dishonest propaganda to pass Israel off as a state with the same values of democracy, liberty and the rule of law that the west professes. Wars that Israel or the zionist movement has started have been passed off as defence or retaliation. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has been blamed on the Palestinians themselves and still Israel is presented as a victim.

This is why the boycott is so important to anti-racists. It doesn’t as yet hurt the criminal state but it does publicise what is wrong with it. It makes people look into the issues. We don’t need to do that with other human rights abusers because the media is more open about them because there is no other state whose existence is predicated on on-going human rights abuses in the way that Israel’s is.

Postings by Israeli apologists expose denial.Roadblocks
The hundreds of roadblocks that prevent Palestinians from accessing medical treatment, work, education, family visits, even accessing their own fields. This denial is not due to lack of information in the Israeli media, which has covered hundreds of instances of Palestinians suffering at the hands of Israeli soldiers at the roadblocks [have you, ron, never served in one of them?]
The Israeli media has reported of soldiers shooting to death pregnant women en route to hospital or killing them by denying them passage to hospitals.
The Israeli group Machsom [roadblock in Hebrew] Watch compiled reports about the daily routine of arbitrary brutality exercised by the Israeli soldiers.
Instead of be ashamed by the reports and trying to stop the abuse, many Israelis are now busy attacking the Israeli groups that report on the human rights abuses and Israeli war crimes [eg B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence and Machsom Watch].Israel Now and Then
The history of Israel is nothing to be proud about. WE have been involved in endless massacres of Palestinians, such as included in the following report, by another excellent Israeli group: Touring al-Ras al-Ahmar while Gaza is under attack, Saturday, 27.12.2008Why Ask Gil to Boycott Israel?
Listen to Artist United Against Apartheid Let Me See Your ID
Especially listen to Gil. Now think about ID and Rights group fears sweeping deportations from West Bank and the Israeli propaganda, portraying Israel as democracy and the victims, while Israelis refuse stop slaughtering and ethnic cleansing Palestinians. Civil society is now taking action to expose this, such as calling on Gil Scott-Heron to boycott Israel. While we are delighted Gill cancelled his Tel Aviv gig, we recognise, as would any reasonable person, that this in no way match the Israeli systematic destruction of the Palestinians. Yet, most Israelis, as on this webpage, cannot accept even this boycott. Clearly they wish the world would continue ignoring their crimes.Apartheid WITHIN Israel
As for the discrimination against the Palestinians holding Israeli ID [I’ll use the term “1948 Palestinians”, because Israel failed to force them out during the massive 1947-1949 ethnic cleansing]:
In Yaffa [annexed to Tel Aviv], most of which was ethnic cleansed in 1948 [the Palestinian refugees are scattered in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon], about 10 days ago [~17 Apr] settlers trespassed the home of a Palestinian family [one of the few to survive the ongoing ethnic cleansing] and told them they plan to evict them like the Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The surviving Palestinians are currently being ethnic cleansed from Ramlah and Lydd [Lod in Hebrew]. Their homes are being demolished. Most of the Palestinians in Ramlah and Lydd ] were forced out of their homes in 1948 with Yitzhak Rabin in command. That was part of Ben Gurion’s planned ethnic cleansing.
A few general facts of the current situation:
“1948 Palestinians” make up 20% of Israel’s population —“1948 Palestinians” control 2.5% of the land. This is the result of waves of massive land confiscation, which provoked mass protests on 30 March 1976, which met with brutal Israeli forces, murdering 6 “1948 Palestinians” that day and many more wounded [in front of me in Nazareth a young man was left heavily bleeding from head injuries in the police van, being denied any medical help]. Ever since, Land Day is a day of protest against the Israeli racist policies, such as land confiscated from “1948 Palestinians” is given to Jewish Israelis, but not the reverse.
There are 60,000 “1948 Palestinians” living in “unrecognised villages” There is no electricity, no running water, no sewage, no social services and few schools in these villages
Jews receive 80% more public funding and services than do “1948 Palestinians”.
In schools, “1948 Palestinians” students receive 1/3 the funding that Jewish students get
50% of “1948 Palestinians” families and 60% of “1948 Palestinians” kids live below the poverty line.
State-run unemployment programs exist only in Jewish towns
Recently the Knesset disqualified All Arab parties in the election [a court overturned this]
Only 6% of the civil service are “1948 Palestinians”, and only 2% are “1948 Palestinians” women.
Watch the facts of the Apartheid WITHIN Israel: the online film Targeted Citizens, made for Adalah, 2010

well well
ain’t this world a bitter place?
not only, us Israelis and palestines have to live in a state of war, of troubled society, and an uncertain future, we are being pushed away again and again.
can’t this performance be about peace, unite, about all the things that should be right and are not?
the history of this nation is as long as babylon, the politicians, from both sides i might say, can not find there arms and legs, and have no longer interest in he well being of the citizens, but of their own.

Gil Scott Heron. I pleed you to come over to Israel and share with us your music and yourself.
there are many people who take that performance as a spark of hope.
what we have here to lean on is music, and yours, does the work.
you will find so much love here, it will be hard for you to believe.
It is not us, the people who are planing the occupation and the war, and I hope we won’t have to suffer for lack of music as well.
from my heart, i ask you, join us for a guthering of peace and music.
hank you for your time
Galia GIlady

Galia GIlady,
You could have not possibly understood the great performer and his wonderful music, if when confronted with evidence of Apartheid and ethnic cleansing your response is: “ain’t this world a bitter place?”
The music you consider you’re entitled to is about “this world a bitter place” and the struggle to change it.
While Palestinians lives are blighted by the Israeli aggression, you demand your entertainment.

For too many years Israel successfully deceived the world with talks of peace while doing war. Presenting the Israelis as peaceniks, while almost all Israelis are complicit with the crimes and many are actively participating in the Israeli war machine against the people we stole their land, now deprive them of food and medicine.

You lament you’ll miss your chance to sing peace with Gil, but not a single word about the siege? You know the long list of Israeli crimes, but chose to ignore, what is the daily reality of the Palestinians.
Your posting expose you have neither interest nor knowledge of Gil’s music, but you just don’t want Gil to boycott you, because it might alert people to the Israeli Apartheid you wish to conceal.
You don’t want Gil’s wonderful voice to let people hear the plight of the Palestinians and give them comfort in their ghettos created by Israel.
The pretence of wanting peace has been a smoke screen to craving a state without the indigenous Palestinians.
I was at a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv at the beginning of the first Intifada. Dozens of thousands sang with passion “peace” songs, but when I asked for donations for baby food to Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza [which was under curfew], the peace protesters replied: let them go hungry until there is a political solution.
The political solution is evasive as ever, so they are hungrier, poorer, bombed, uranium and other metals in their body, but you go on as nothing happened to disturb your “peace” songs.

Galia GIlady,
Is it possible you understood the great performer and his wonderful music, if when confronted with evidence of Apartheid and ethnic cleansing your response is: “ain’t this world a bitter place?”
The music you consider you’re entitled to is about “this world a bitter place” and the struggle to change it.
While Palestinians lives are blighted by the Israeli aggression, you demand your entertainment.

For too many years Israel successfully deceived the world with talks of peace while doing war. Presenting the Israelis as peaceniks, while almost all Israelis are complicit with the crimes and many are actively participating in the Israeli war machine against the people we stole their land, now deprive them of food and medicine.

You lament you’ll miss your chance to sing peace with Gil, but not a single word about the siege? You know the long list of Israeli crimes, but chose to ignore, what is the daily reality of the Palestinians.
Your posting expose you have neither interest nor knowledge of Gil’s music, but you just don’t want Gil to boycott you, because it might alert people to the Israeli Apartheid you wish to conceal.
You don’t want Gil’s wonderful voice to let people hear the plight of the Palestinians and give them comfort in their ghettos created by Israel.
The pretence of wanting peace has been a smoke screen to craving a state without the indigenous Palestinians.
I was at a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv at the beginning of the first Intifada. Dozens of thousands sang with passion “peace” songs, but when I asked for donations for baby food to Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza [which was under curfew], the peace protesters replied: let them go hungry until there is a political solution.
The political solution is evasive as ever, so they are hungrier, poorer, bombed, uranium and other metals in their body, but you go on as nothing happened to disturb your “peace” songs.

mark and yael,
the united nation has recieved a dicision in 1947 to devide palestine. one part for the palestinians, the other for the “jewish state
“. yes the un itself defined it “jewish state”. israel is an ethnic state. like Belgium or france. i will not apologize for it. my grandfather survived the holocaust, the other one escaped Morocco, not because his life were too good. where do you want me to go?? poland or morocco?

mark- do not insult my intelligence and dont beleive the crap thay feed you with- the president of iran has threatend to wipe israel off the map. the difference between israel and iran is simple- WE have never threaten to wipe iran off the map.
you are so full of yourself. when was the last time you had to choose between democracy or human lives? its so easy for you. when was the last time you have been in israel or gaza??? and again, those who wish to have human rights do not blow themselvs up in the middle of tel aviv. the israeli court has many times kept the human rights of everybody- including the palestinians. but you dont know about it because you only read what yael reads- one sided, non historical and biosed essays.
and yes, jews from all around the world are wellcomed in israel. no one else. like britain, france and the usa have their immigrant policy. yes, only jews. im sorry you all, you cant immigrant to israel.
“Wars that Israel or the zionist movement has started have been passed off as defence or retaliation. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has been blamed on the Palestinians themselves and still Israel is presented as a victim”… well done and where have you read this??? in the “history of the arab nations, by ahmedinijad”??? i dont know where you get your information, but stop reading one side story.
i am not saying israel has nothing to be blamed for, the other way around.yes, arab israelies
but if you think palestinians are the victims you are dead wrong.

yael- like mark, i dont know what the hell you raed. ALL the links you posted are not even academic. come on, if you want to proof something, do not use those articals.
yes i served in those roadblocks. no i did not do any crimes- i never hit nobody, cursed or abused nobody. no metter how down i was, or how hot it was. have you ever been there yael??? its so easy for you to criticize us. you think you are better. you are not. i want to be jewish in a jewish state.i will not apologize for the so called 1948 crimes, i did not do it. did morocco apologized for the oppression of my father and grand father?. thats the way life goes.
there are 2 side to every story. stop thinking you know all. israel is no saint. the palestinians have a part in their situation.

ron,
It is quite likely you have been in Gaza more recently than me, that is if you went there with the Israeli army for a killing spree. Were you there with the Israeli soldiers leaving behind graffiti, declaring: “The Zionist occupier was here,” and “We came to annihilate you”? [see Under a white flag, darkly by Amira Hass]
Having read your rather revealing statement, “had to choose between democracy or human lives”, it reads as a euphemism. In my experience this is a disclosure that your concern is not to stop Israeli crimes, only to stop them being exposed. Would your choice be to silence the Israeli journalist Amira Hass or were you among the Israelis, who last month tried to force the publisher, Haaretz, to close down because it revealed too much evidence of Israeli war crimes and generals breaking the law?
I was in Gaza 2 years ago, unlike you, I was there as a guest respecting the lives of my hosts.
When my parents escaped Nazi Germany [before Kristalnacht], the racism they suffered was not as vicious and lethal as that suffered by the Palestinians for decades.
What do you know about difficult decisions?? You cannot for one minute even imagine the difficult decisions Palestinians in Gaza have to make, when every night entire families go to bed hungry. Their hunger is possible because you and most other Israelis support the state and its army that restricts food delivery to quantities that would just keep them alive [see Gaza bonanza by By Yotam Feldman and Uri Blau], so many of them die. Of course, the journalist, Uri Blau, who exposed this also works [or should I say worked because he is now in hiding in London] for Haaretz and his articles were the reasons so many Israelis wanted to shut it down completely.

Do you know how the Warsaw Ghetto started, do you know about the calorie intake calculations?
I don’t think you lose sleep because of what is done in your name and with your complicity.
There is no sign you care your government and army prohibit avocado from being delivered to Gazans, while Israel exports them to Europe.
Are you surprised that unlike you, people of conscience are outraged with Israeli policies against 1.5 million human beings?
You have already given us a few hints that you probably don’t consider Palestinians as equal human beings. The history of the Holocaust and other genocides shows that dehumanisation of the victims is an essential stage in the implementation of genocides.

Dear Gil
I must admit that I was one of those protestors at your concert at the Royal Festiival Hall. I showered your audience with flyers to tell them about the complicity of the racist government of Israel, and not to “fuck up” your show, as you put it. We did try to write to you, but you did not respond to us so we had to communicate with you in another way! I also shouted at you to make my voice carry over the audience, and not because I am a well educated Palestinian woman taking refuge, like eight million other Palestinians of the Diaspora. I do not have a right of return to my country, Palestine and nor do all my family who were chased out of Haifa in 1948 by Hagana/Stern Gang – terrorists who later became Prime Ministers of Israel. So, until Israel recognises my right of return, until Israel treats me as an equal citizen of my country, then I urge you to stick to your principles and not be pressured into performing in Israel, not in May, not until it stops being an Apartheid state.

And by the way, your joke about frightening white old ladies was racist, and so was the one about Black people finding ‘February’ hard to spell. I am sure you can do better than that!

Just to balance things though, as I am sure you are finding this a bit harsh, I loved your music! You transmogrified into another being when your started singing! In ABBA’s lyrics, “Thank you for the music …”